Slave of Light
by Rialga
Summary: Helping people. Saving people. Smiting 'evil.' That's all he did. To many out in the frontier, he was a unquestionably a hero. But to himself, he was a slave and little more. Hoping to find a true purpose in life, Jaune applies to Beacon and heads there eagerly. There, he will learn what it means to be 'free.' NOTE: summary/rating subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

Well, hello there everyone and belated Happy New Year! Been quite some time since I finished up my last fic and for that, I'm sorry; had a hard time figuring which of the many ideas I had was possible for me to genuinely write out. That, and I'd been busy with my own revised second novel, which has come quite a ways thus far – about 130+ pages so far, for those of you interested. Will still need to edit it like crazy after it's done, but eh, that'll honestly be the easy part, I think.

Anyways, surprise! Here I am with yet another RWBY fic. And a Jaune-centric one at that too. Will say right now that I'd drawn more than a little inspiration from a certain character from Silverio Vendetta/Trinity (a visual novel), but I like to think it was necessary in helping flesh out the initial idea I had for this new fic. I can only hope that what I have in store will prove interesting in both concept and execution.

Let me start by saying that this first chapter or two will be somewhat unusual in that Jaune's perspective won't really be given much, but it's my hope the buildup will spark some interest in how this version of him differs from his canon self. There will also be a gratuitous amount of jumping around since the beginning here won't differ that much from canon. By all means, please let me know your thoughts as this fic starts rolling along.

And one last thing – updating. I will be bouncing back and forth between this fic and my novel just as I've done with just about every other fic I've written, so updates may easily be weeks apart a time, possibly longer than a month depending on other circumstances. And of course, this isn't counting other sudden life changes too. That said, I do plan as always to keep the updates consistent if at all possible.

Now then, let's get this started!

Slave of Light chapter 1

When small time motel owner Isaac awoke, it was to what had become a familiar sound, one which brought a small smile to his face as he woke up and freshened up.

Exiting his room roughly ten minutes later, he peered down the hallway and saw one of his most recent tenants helping the janitors out in moving some of the heavier supplies around.

"Morning, Jaune. Already keeping yourself busy, eh?" he called out to the young man.

"Yeah. Helps me stay active," came the somewhat chipper reply from the young man.

Isaac chuckled. And not for the first time, he sized up Jaune.

Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue as the blond had said when they'd first met and introduced himself.

He's a tall and clearly well-built young man, his features a cross between sharp and soft depending on the expression he made. With somewhat messy blond and the simple manner of clothes he wore – black boots and fatigues, a dull and thick gray long sleeve whose only other color was a symbol on the front and back – it'd be easy to paint him as any other teen, albeit one that happened to be clearly fit but with a rather plain fashion sense.

However.

The two swords strapped to his sides would quickly make people reconsider such an initial impression. The clearly old and marginally faded diagonal scar on his face and the way his blue eyes so intensely pierced everything they looked upon only enhanced the surreal feeling that resulted from the contrast between his initial appearance and very presence. It certainly helped too that the way he walked… well, Isaac wasn't the brightest man around, not having really had much time in his youth to brush up on his vocabulary, but the way Jaune usually walked just radiated an absolute confidence.

Though said confidence sure didn't seem to apply when dealing with women – Isaac knew this, because he had a daughter around Jaune's age that was quite attracted to the young man, something Jaune himself had clearly noticed but had awkwardly tried to politely ignore.

It was enough to make the man snicker a bit.

But he was getting off track here.

"So, today's the day, right?" he asked as he approached Jaune, who'd finished his current task.

"That's right. Off to Beacon from here," Jaune stated calmly.

Isaac nodded, but with a certain degree of sadness.

Although he and his family have only come to know Jaune for maybe two weeks at most, they'd all come to be comfortable with him. To be expected, really, since it wasn't exactly often someone seemed to make it his mission to protect them from the few gangs that liked to stir up trouble in this part of Vale. Not only that, but he's been a big help around the motel, small and shabby and having been slowly deteriorating over the years he's run it in this equally rundown part of Vale.

From small tasks like moving stuff around for him and the few other guests the motel had to doing patrols every day to ensure no punks got the bright idea to bother them, Jaune did it without being asked to and without hesitation.

As crazy as it might sound, in the two weeks he's been staying here, the usual crime that somewhat plagued the area has taken a noticeable plunge, as if his very presence was that big a deterrence.

Again, Isaac was going to miss this guy. He really was a helpful young man.

Hell… he'd even go so far as to call him a hero, a hero of the people.

And he wouldn't be the only one that'd miss the guy.

"Well, then. Let's try to end your stay here on a good note, eh?" he suggested.

Jaune nodded and smiled. "Sure… I'd like that."

With smiles now on both their faces, Isaac started his own duties while Jaune assisted as needed.

A scant few hours later, the blond prepared his small amount of luggage and took his leave, but not before bidding a quiet goodbye to not just Isaac, but also the man's wife, daughter and even the other guests and workers in the motel.

As the blond walked off with nary a glance back, Isaac watched him with a peaceful smile on his face.

He may not ever even come back here… but nonetheless, Isaac remained unnaturally confident that none of those gangs from before would ever bother him and the motel in general again.

And it was all thanks to one extraordinary young man.

"Good luck, Jaune." He mumbled to himself long after the blond had left his sight.

* * *

Jaune Arc walked with purpose, effortlessly carrying his two bags of luggage as he did so.

He made his way from the motel to his destination – the loading dock for the bullheads that were to travel to Beacon – without any issue.

And along the way, he'd turned his head and responded with a small smile to everyone that called out to him.

Patrice from the flower shop.

Corrin, Alisha, and Mark, a trio of kids that liked to run around this area.

Old man Faustus that manned a large antique shop.

These were but many of the people that happily called out to him. These were all people that he's helped in some form or another since coming to Vale just two weeks ago.

They were saddened to see him go, but wished him well nonetheless. He did likewise.

And so this repeated, this constant bidding of farewell and good luck as he eventually left the slummish area, eventually reaching the more uptown parts of Vale.

Now with no one else to interact with, Jaune remained dead silent and focused solely on reaching his goal.

He did so in record time despite having only walked, the bullheads opening up and letting the prospective students on board just as he arrived.

Boarding one just as silently as he'd arrived, he placed his luggage to his right and proceeded to sit perfectly upright.

His expression was unreadable, but his eyes not so much; they burned with anticipation, so much so that any others that had even considered making some small talk with him were quick to look away.

Today was the day, the start of his new journey.

* * *

Ruby Rose wasn't having such a good start to her time here at Beacon.

As excited as she was to be able to come to Beacon two whole years earlier than the norm, as a big-time weapons nerd, being around so many people was just waaaayyy too much for her.

Seriously, she knew that at some point she'd have to get over her social anxiety like Yang kept on telling her, but she'd been hoping to start small, like being around maybe one or two people she didn't know at a time, not be surrounded by like, dozens and dozens of people she'd never seen before.

It was like trying to choose an easy level in a game only to accidentally misclick and end up choosing the hardest one instead.

Then her 'dear big sis' just had to go and betray her by leaving her behind!

And now, now here she was being yelled out by some crabby girl with white hair!

Uh oh.

The whitehaired girl was waving around a vial of Dust… and it wasn't closed all the way.

Fully aware of the danger this meant from her years of working with Dust and weapons – note to self: mixing lightning Dust and fire Dust in the middle of the kitchen is a BAD IDEA, AVOID REPEATING AT ALL COSTS – Ruby tried to warn the girl before the vial got set off.

But it was already too late; she could feel a sneeze coming on.

Whatever crazy rant the girl was going on was completely ignored by Ruby as she prepared to sneeze-.

Only for the sneeze to never actually come.

Before she even knew it, a hand suddenly reached out of nowhere and closed the Dust vial before any more of it could spill out while another hand practically conjured up a tissue and nearly rammed it into her face, muffling her sneeze before it could somehow trigger what Dust did spill out.

"Careful there," said a voice, clearly a guy.

Ruby and the whitehaired girl turned in surprise to the young man, a tall and fit blond guy that was eyeing them back. She nearly shivered at how intense his gaze was and that scar of his was kind of freaking her out for some reason, which made her feel bad and look away and- oh wow, he's a dual wielder?!

"You two alright?" he then asked.

The whitehaired girl was the first to respond. "U-Unhand me, first!" His hand hadn't just closed the vial, but was also practically gripping her own much smaller hand in the process.

"Ah, sorry about that." He sounded a little sheepish, though it contrasted a lot with how serious he still looked. "But if you'd kept waving that Dust around while it was unsecured, it'd have exploded, you know?"

The whitehaired girl made to speak, only to stop and even flinch as she then seemed to consider what had been about to happen.

Then, rather than apologize, she huffed and walked off.

Yeesh, a real friendly girl that one was, Ruby thought sarcastically.

It was only a few seconds later that she realized the blond was still standing there. "Ah, uh, oh, eh," she started to stutter out, inwardly panicking. "T-Thanks for the save there. I was scared I might blow myself up with all that Dust flying my way."

The guy chuckled a bit, even smiled a little too. "You're welcome. Glad I just noticed in time. Now come on, the orientation's going to be starting pretty soon." He then motioned towards the other teens that were just barely disembarking the remaining bullheads, all of whom were walking towards a specific building.

"O-Oh, right!"

She quickly caught up with the guy just as he started to walk off, though he'd clearly been lagging behind a bit to allow her to catch up anyways. He even matched his stride with her own, she noticed, which made her happy…

Until she realized how quiet things were between them.

Oh no, wasn't this bad?! Weren't things already feeling awkward even though it'd literally been some odd seconds since they met.

"So, uhm, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose!" she started.

"Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue," he replied as he looked her way. "Nice to meet you."

"Y-Yeah, right back at you!"

He nodded.

And then there was silence again.

Her panic returned.

"So… I have this," she said, eager to start up a conversation, literally any kind of conversation. She pulled out her precious baby, Crescent Rose, eagerly hoisting it up for her potential friend to see. She even shifted it into its awesome scythe form, giving it a slight twirl.

He quirked an eyebrow. "A scythe?"

"Mhm!" She was perking up now, noting his (marginal) interest. "And a high impact rifle too! Up close or far away, my baby here will see me to victory!" She boasted with all the charm of a kid, though she'd deny it if someone tried making this comparison aloud – she drank her milk after all, no way she could be a kid.

"Huh, that's really neat. Can definitely see how that'd be awesome."

Ruby's smile grew. It was always great when others acknowledged Crescent Rose's greatness. "Made it myself!" She then eyed his swords. "So what about you? What kind of swords are those?" she asked, whatever traces of unease she had now gone. "What kind of gun function do they have?!"

Needless to say, now that she's quickly warmed up to this guy, her excitement was practically palpable.

What kind of awesome, but not as awesome as her baby, weapons were this guy's swords?

"Ah…" He looked a little embarrassed in the face of her enthusiasm. "They're just swords, nothing more, nothing less. But they can cut real good." That last statement was said rather cheekily.

It was enough to get Ruby to giggle. "Heh, well, nothing with the classics. If they work for you, then that's what matters."

"…Mhm." Her new friend Jaune now sported a rather serious expression, eyeing his own swords for a second with an expression she couldn't read. "Yeah… they do work indeed."

Ruby could only stay silent in response, feeling a little taken aback. Her surprise must have shown, for Jaune then chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry. I get lost in the moment sometimes." He then paused. "So… Beacon, eh? Excited?"

Taking the conversation change for what it was, Ruby was quick to smile again and respond.

And from there, the words just flowed out naturally, her and Jaune having a legitimate conversation as they made their way to where the orientation was to be held.

Looks like her time here at Beacon was off to a good start, after all.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos did her best to ignore the glances many of the others around her was sending her way. Though she did her best to ignore her fellow potential classmates, it wasn't easy.

She'd come to Beacon in the hopes of a fresh start, away from all the paparazzi and fans, but it looks like her reputation was greater than even she'd ever thought it'd be.

Was it because of the Pumpkin Pete's sponsorship? She should've known better than to cave to her agent's pleas to appear on that cereal's box – it was clearly way too popular for even her own good.

Not to mention it was super unhealthy too.

That said, she was saddened by what this current situation was suggesting to her. Her hopes of making friends – genuine friends – may very well be all for nothing if these people were going to idolize her like everyone did back in Mistral.

Or so she thought.

For in that moment, she couldn't help but take notice of a slight commotion nearby. A tall and well-built blond walked in alongside a short girl with a red cloak, the latter loud and excitable in contrast to the more cool-headed blond teen.

Then after some more talking, the cloak wearing girl seemed to notice someone familiar and hastily bid the blond a quick goodbye before running off at an impressive speed.

The blond watched the girl go and Pyrrha too could only watch too as a moment later a whitehaired girl – wait, that was Weiss Schnee. She better watch out for that girl – approached the cloak girl and another girl, a curvy blonde with long and wavy hair.

What looked like a brief argument seemed to ensue, but whatever it was about, Pyrrha couldn't hear. If she'd focused hard enough, she might be able to hear. Now, doing that would be rude, very much so, but with not much else to do, she guiltily considered doing so.

Only to stop when the blond teen started to look around the room, eventually locking eyes with her in the process.

She stared into his intense blue eyes and he stared back into her green ones… and then, he merely nodded in greeting and glanced away, his interest clearly elsewhere.

This was such a simple thing, ridiculously simple, but in that moment Pyrrha found herself taken aback. And pleasantly surprised.

That blond… it didn't look as if he'd even remotely recognized her. That was interesting. Most interesting, really.

And call her crazy, but it gave her peace of mind in addition to only ensuring her own interest in the young man.

Perhaps her hopes weren't quite dead just yet, after all.

Ah!

There was the deputy headmistress stepping out onto the stage. Pyrrha took note of how everyone immediately quieted down as the blond woman prepared to speak.

The redhead made sure to listen intensely as professor Goodwitch swiftly proceeded to introduce the headmaster Ozpin to them… but at the same time, she also tried to spare a glance to the blond teen from just now, who'd quietly walked forward several feet when the headmaster appeared.

Pyrrha nearly jumped in surprise when, as the headmaster gave a quick speech, she heard the sound of knuckles cracking quite loudly.

It had come from the blond teen, whose hands had clenched into fists just now.

Had something just upset him?

No, it didn't look that way. Rather, his expression… it seemed determined, to put it mildly. But what had triggered such a reaction? Had it been the headmaster's speech just now?

Well, if there was one thing Pyrrha felt certain of, it was that she may have just found someone she'd very much like to meet down the line.

* * *

Yang Xiao Long, dressed now in her sleepwear, eyed with varying levels of interest several hunky boys that were currently trying to show off their bods.

Mmmm, now that was a sight she definitely didn't mind seeing before heading to sleep. Even if she did admit that sleeping with so many others around was a bit new for her.

Eh, not like it can be helped. Saved Beacon's staff the trouble to set up rooms for them all right off the bat. And not like any of the others were going to try anything with initiation scheduled first thing in the morning.

And besides, as the big sister here, it was up to her to make sure Ruby didn't stay up too late.

Heh, her little sis may try to say constantly that she's not a kid anymore, but staying up late so stubbornly was very childish indeed.

Not only that…

"What's that? Writing a letter?" Yang asked.

"Mhm! To the gang back in Signal," Ruby replied as she wrote away, her penmanship not exactly the most flowery.

Yang let out a 'awww' at how her sister had said that. "You really are a cutie, Rubes~" she cooed playfully as she ruffled her sister's hair.

Ruby pouted and tried to swat her hand away, but the strength difference was too great for her to do so. So Ruby just pouted even harder until Yang laughed and removed her hand.

"So, how was it? Your first day here." Yang will admit that leaving behind Ruby so suddenly earlier today was kinda messed up, but it had to be done. Only way for Ruby to break out of her little shell was to throw her into the deep end of the pool, figuratively speaking of course. Otherwise, the girl would just use her speed semblance to stick to her like superglue.

"It was alright… though I think I made a negative friend…" Ruby mumbled.

"Ah…"

Right, that Weiss girl. Yeah, Yang could see why Ruby would say that. That girl really needed the stick in her ass pulled out at some point.

But that said…

"But come on, sis." Yang was practically leering now. "I'm pretty sure you made a positive friend too~"

Ruby's cheeks turned a rosy red. "H-Hey, I've only really known Jaune for like ten minutes! Calling him a friend now…" She blushed a bit more and averted her gaze. "I mean, that'd be really awesome, but wouldn't that be assuming too much?"

"Hmm, don't know." Yang looked then looked up and to the right. She grinned. "Why don't you try asking him?"

"E-Eh?"

"Hey!" Yang suddenly called out, waving her right arm up. "Over here!"

Several people looked her way, but she didn't pay them any mind. It took another call out or two, but the boy in question, who'd just walked into the massive room just several seconds ago, finally noticed her and proceeded to stroll up to them.

"Oh, Ruby," the boy – Jaune – murmured in surprise, but not unpleasantly. "We meet again."

"H-Hey, Jaune," Ruby mumbled back, embarrassed. "Sorry about my sister here. Just wanted to meet you and all…"

Smiling unapologetically as her sister glared at her comically, Yang stood up and sized up Jaune as she did so.

Hmm, her sister surprisingly knew how to pick 'em.

His sleepwear was pretty plain, just black sweats and a dark blue shirt, but they did little to cover his muscular form. And boy oh boy, speaking of muscles, this guy was pretty jacked, his shoulders broad and his arms extremely well defined.

This was someone who didn't mess around. She could appreciate that. And that scar of his definitely added some extra charm to him somehow. Made him manlier than he already was despite the sharp and narrow features of his face.

"Heard about you from my sis," Yang began as she took in his blond locks and sharp blue eyes.

"Hopefully all good things," he quipped with a small smile.

Yang laughed. Oh, she liked this guy. "Don't worry, I won't be pulling the overprotective sister act or anything. Just wanted to meet the guy who caught my sister's eye."

She spoke rather teasingly there at the end, getting a blush out of Ruby. As for Jaune, however, he merely huffed in mild amusement. Looks like he was used to this sort of thing.

"Name's Yang, by the way. Hope you don't mind being my friend too. Ruby and I… well, being sisters and all that, we kinda come as one package."

"Not at all. Hope we can get along."

Oho, another little quip there. And without hesitation too. She was liking this guy more and more.

"Only if you're willing to show me how much you want to get along with us~"

"Yang!" Ruby finally cried out, more embarrassed than ever. "No flirting!"

Yang snickered at her reaction and at Jaune's, her fellow blond finally looking a tad bit embarrassed too.

But very indirectly, Ruby raised a point. Now wasn't the time to be messing around with either of them. With the initiation starting so early tomorrow, they all had to be getting their shuteye soon.

"Heh, sorry, sorry," Yang said. "But real talk now. Heard from Rubes how you helped her escape ice queen's Dust lecture. Thanks for that. And for becoming her friend… which I'm assuming you did, right?"

Jaune nodded. "Of course. Ruby… she seems like a good person. A truly good person. No way anyone would turn down being her friend."

Said girl's face darkened all the more from the compliment. Yang smirked at the girl. This was quickly giving her a lot of teasing material for later and for so little too.

"That's kind of you to say, Jaune." But teasing material aside, it wasn't exactly common for others to offer up such sincere compliments out of the blue. Yang couldn't help but be touched. "Well, kind of sucks to cut things so short, but we do have to get sleep now. But hey, maybe after initiation, we can hang out sometime. That cool with you?"

"Of course. I'll look forward to it," Jaune replied.

The sincerity in his voice once again touched her. The words he spoke were absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, but it was clear he truly meant it.

Heh, Ruby really did know how to pick 'em.

She and the girl in question then bid Jaune a good night and he did likewise before walking off.

And so as she eventually lied down in her sleeping bag and slowly drifted off to sleep alongside Ruby, Yang eagerly anticipated what was to come.

* * *

As soon as his back was fully turned to both Ruby and Yang and he was far enough away, Jaune's smile fell and a grimace took its place.

That… had been surprisingly hard to do.

From the moment he'd entered the room up until now, he'd immediately spotted more than a dozen people who'd looked to be in need of some help. Whether it be simply setting up their sleeping spot or looking for missing items or something else entirely, there were those that weren't quite adjusting to their new environment just yet… and his instincts had nearly compelled him to help out each and every one of them.

He'd have done just that too if Yang hadn't called out to him, given him something else to focus on.

But now that Ruby and Yang were turning in for the night along with many others, there really wasn't much else left to distract him from his compulsion.

Help.

He needed to help others. He absolutely had to.

After all, helping others wasn't wrong. How could it be?

…

…

Okay, he seriously had to calm down now. Hadn't he told himself that he was supposed to try cutting down on this?

Taking a moment to simply breath in and out, Jaune did his best to remain aware of himself.

Helping out Isaac and the others back in Vale's slums… that had been one thing – they'd genuinely been in danger of being hurt by those gangs that roamed those areas. And the motel and other shops had been in serious need of some remodeling lest they eventually fall apart. Helping them out with such matters was perfectly normal – acceptable.

Sporadically going around, helping others with their sleeping bags or looking for some good luck necklace? Different matter entirely.

Or so he liked to tell himself.

Alas, he had to. If he didn't, he'd be helping everyone he saw. And he'd promised his family the last time he saw them that he'd try to find a singular purpose to focus on.

It's why he's come here to Beacon – to find a true purpose to dedicate himself to.

However, the headmaster's short speech had left him less than impressed. Angry, even. For all intents and purposes, the headmaster had pretty much told them all to find their own goal in life. An understandable thing to say, really, but not something a person of authority should have said so nonchalantly.

Especially when his own efforts to concentrate his energies had been an utter failure so far.

But his frustrations aside, Jaune remained undeterred, unwavering. This wasn't the end just yet for him.

So long as he marched onwards, he'll eventually discover what he truly desired.

He had to.

Because if he didn't, he honestly had no idea what he'd do.

* * *

 **And done! A rather lengthy first chapter, at least compared to how I initially planned it out to be, but hopefully one that will interest you guys.**

 **As you've noticed by this point, this Jaune differs considerably from the canon one. And don't worry – all the differences have story relevance in one form or another. They will be explained later down the line.**

 **Anyways, again, I hope this will really grab your attention because I intend for this fic to be something of both a deconstruction and reconstruction of some common concepts. Of course, I won't be skipping out on the action either and it's also my intention to make said action even more intense and epic than any other action scene I've written thus far in fanfiction.**

 **Whelp, beyond that, not much else that needs to be said other than that I'm excited as hell to finally be starting this fic, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there again, everyone! Surprisingly, I was able to get around to this second chapter just a bit more quickly than I'd thought I would. Here's to hoping this is a good sign to you all and especially to me – I'm eager to pump out chapters for both this fic and my novel at quicker pace.

And holy hell, what a response the first chapter got! It really does make me happy to know this fic has garnered so much interest already. I just hope now that I'll be able to live up to your expectations!

And on that note, let's discuss the chapter just a bit.

Firstly, I just want to say that team compositions will be the same as the ones in canon. Primarily because Jaune's relationship with his friends wouldn't change much regardless of how the teams would've turned out… but also partially because I'm an unimaginative punk when it comes to changing up the status quo, ha ha. That, and thinking up new team names and abbreviations for them would've been difficult too, even with help.

Hope you guys understand.

Secondly, this fic will be a slow burning one, in that things will take time to kick into high gear. That said, it certainly won't be lacking in either action or drama. If all goes well according to my current plan for this fic, it'll be just as epic if not more so than Don't Fear the Dark.

Thirdly, much like the first chapter, there will be a fair bit of skipping around – the events of the first volume have been done to hell and back, after all, ha ha – and Jaune's perspective will be kept brief in favor of the others. Again, this is for the sake of some intrigue and once more, I'm eager to see how you will like it.

Whelp, that's really all I have to say for the time being. Now without further ado, let's start!

P.S. This chapter will be noticeably longer than the first one. So buckle in and enjoy the ride!

Chapter 2

Blake Belladonna was a light sleeper. Always had been, always will be. Her time with the White Fang during its more radical shift hadn't really helped with this either as she and others had always had to be prepared in case of their camps being discovered and raided by either authorities or bandits.

In all honesty, it'd be more appropriate to say she took long naps – and no, they weren't called 'cat naps,' thank you very much – rather than sleep outright.

And so far, this looked to be no different upon arriving at Beacon.

She'd come here for a fresh start, as a way to wipe some of the red out of her ledger, so to speak. And as eager as she was to do just that, she wasn't about to suddenly let herself relax that much right off the bat.

As such, she was quite on guard when she already heard someone getting up despite everyone else being soundly asleep.

She did her best to not tense up. This wasn't the wilds, after all. She reasoned it was probably just one of the prospective students getting up to use the bathroom or something.

Except it didn't sound like it – the person's footsteps, barely audible to even her with her hidden cat ears, were too quick, the shift in the very air a little too… well, she had no way to describe it really, but she could just tell that this person was fully up and alert.

And whoever it was up already was passing right by her.

She feigned sleep, which was easy to do since she'd kept her eyes closed, but she wouldn't deny a slight nervousness entering her when she heard the person stop just a few feet away from her.

Blake could almost even feel the person's gaze on her now and it was nearly enough to make her get up and confront them, but she detected no malice… nor lust. So this person was neither a threat to her person nor a pervert – huh, for some reason, she felt let down by that last bit. She's been getting a bit too much into the Ninjas of Love series, it seemed – and so she reluctantly pretended to be asleep still.

But then the person, a guy judging by the heaviness of the footsteps now, slowly approached her and bent down.

 _Now_ she was ready to get up, but just before she could start moving, the unknown guy simply adjusted her blanket, which had slipped off her at some point during the night. Now it was back on her completely and she felt the difference in warmth now.

Huh, she'd misread the guy. Now she felt a little stupid, but not apologetic.

Until she felt a slight breeze from some of the open windows above and realized something that made her freeze.

Her bow had slipped off just a bit. One of hear cat ears was exposed.

No way the guy could miss such a sight and this thought filled her with worry. She'd hidden her Faunus traits with the hopes of getting any others to first know her and judge her as a person before risking exposing her Faunus heritage.

But now… what was to become of her hopes?

She received an answer just a second later as the guy, without hesitation, reached out and adjust her bow back into place, doing so with a gentleness that shocked her.

"…I don't know your reasons for hiding your ears. Nor what your ultimate goal may be," the guy whispered to her softly so that no one else nearby would wake up. "But I wish you good luck with it."

Then the guy stood up and walked away.

Once he got far enough away, Blake opened her eyes finally and peered up in time to get a small glimpse of him just as he silently opened the door to the room and exited. With the night vision that comes to her as a Faunus, she saw his tall and well-built form as well as the messy blond hair that he had.

And as if aware of her gaze, he turned his head just a bit to look back at her, revealing the diagonal scar on his face. He nodded to her as he left.

Leaving her alone now with only her thoughts, which raged like a hurricane now.

It'd be quite some time before she could finally settle down enough to nap once more, but not without a small smile on her normally stoic face.

That… had been unexpected. But pleasant, very much so.

Still… just why was he was getting up at barely two in the morning?

* * *

Weiss Schnee had not had a very pleasant first day here at Beacon, one of the four prestigious huntsmen academies.

First, it'd proven far more difficult than it should've been in transporting all her luggage here. Then she'd had to ride a bullhead full of other people, all of whom had shown little in the ways of elegance and grace.

Then after that, she'd been nearly bowled over by a girl two years her junior who'd nearly blown them off the cliffside only to be saved at the last moment by a blond young man, albeit one who'd quickly lectured her – her, of all people! – about how to handle Dust!

Now, granted, he had made a good point and she will admit to her mistake, but only to herself. Still, it had left her more than a little ruffled. It hadn't helped either with having to then share the same room with all the other would-be students, more so the same general sleeping space as that cloak wearing girl and another blonde that appeared to be related to her somehow.

Yes, it again went without saying that her first day hadn't been the most rewarding… but today? Today would be different.

All the other Beacon hopefuls had gotten up and changed and were now either getting a light breakfast or were gathering their weapons to head to where the initiation would take place. She'd done the same and after freshening up to the best of her ability, she'd quickly located the one person she could currently say was worthy of her time:

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl and four-time champion of Mistral's regional tournaments. A young woman whose strength, skill and grace in battle seemed to be only matched by her upstanding personality.

Yes, she absolutely had to get her on her side! Together, they'd take the academy by storm and prove their worthiness as huntresses!

And so far, having managed to snag said redhead and engage in a most enlightening conversation, Weiss believe things were going well.

Until they weren't.

"Umm, excuse me, could I get by?" someone called out to them. "My locker is just there…"

"Oh, of course. Sorry about that," Pyrrha, who'd been fairly quiet up until now, said as she made room for the person to politely slip by…. But not without first making a bit of a face.

A face that Weiss was certain she shared.

While not outright foul, this person reeked of sweat.

"Ugh! Would it kill you to practice basic hygiene?!" she barked at the person who just opened his locker. And when that person turned to her, she was surprised to see it was the same blond from yesterday.

Like her, Pyrrha, and many others, he was already dressed, but unlike them, he smelled quite a bit, lowering her opinion of him even more.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said somewhat sheepishly. "I'd woken up early to warm up. As for the lack of a shower, well, since we'll be having initiation soon, I figured we'd all be breaking even more of a sweat then, so I held off on the shower for now… though I think that was mistake. Again, sorry."

Weiss inwardly huffed as the blond pulled out his weapons from the locker – nothing particularly elegant like her Myrtenaster, but just two plain looking swords.

As he strapped the sheathed blades and their harness around his waist, he looked to Pyrrha as he closed the locker. "Thanks. Sorry for interrupting again."

"Oh, it's no problem," the redhead said with a smile.

The blond returned the smile a little, albeit hesitantly and started to walk off…

But Weiss refused to let him, appalled by his casual manner.

"Ahem!" She made her disbelief known. "Is that really how you're going to talk to us! Do you not know who either of us are?! Who she is?!" She motioned to Pyrrha as she said this, unaware of the strained expression the redhead now had.

The blond turned back to look at them both, his blue eyes practically piercing her very soul it felt like. He looked first to her and then to Pyrrha and then back to her.

"Sorry… I've been out of touch with media for a while now, so I can't say I recognize you," he replied. "But I think I have seen you on a box of cereal before… Pumpkin Pete's, right? One of my sisters loves it… even though it's so unhealthy."

Weiss let out a mildly strangled cry. Just where had this bumpkin come from?! "I'm Weiss Schnee of the SDC!" she nearly yelled indignantly. "And she's Pyrrha Nikos!"

The blond stared silently.

"Four-time champion of the Mistral regional tournaments! A prodigy among our age group!" Weiss continued.

"Ah, I see." He nodded in understanding. "Name's Jaune Arc, nice to meet you both. And belated congrats on your championship streak. It couldn't have been easy."

He held out a hand and Pyrrha took it with a bright smile on her face. "Nice to meet you too, Jaune. And thanks, that's very appreciated."

Weiss's eye twitched at the sight before her. This ruffian was making more visible headway with Pyrrha than she was the past twenty minutes! How?!

"Then…" she began, narrowing her eyes a bit. "Knowing that now, do you really think you've a right to associate with her?"

"Who she spends time with is for her to decide. Not you," he said. His reply was so immediate and firm that Weiss actually froze in place. She even felt something akin to whiplash as he gazed at her, his stare much more intense than it was before. "Do keep in mind that status can only get you so far in life. Especially if you truly intend to be a huntress."

There was an awkward silence now as he and Pyrrha ceased shaking hands.

Jaune then blinked and the invisible pressure he'd just been giving off vanished a bit. "It'll be time for the initiation very soon now. I'll see you two there and good luck."

He gave a little bow with a surprising grace now and promptly turned on his heels and walked off, leaving behind a stunned Weiss and Pyrrha.

"W-Well, it is almost time, Weiss…" the latter said after a few seconds. "We should be going too."

"R-Right," Weiss managed to say as she regained her composure, subconsciously adjusting her combat outfit in the process.

As the two of them took off, however, the white-haired girl was unable to fully shake off the words the blond – no, Jaune – had said to her.

Little did she know, she'd start thinking on what he'd said for a long time to come.

* * *

Jaune flew through the air with great speed. He closed his eyes for just a split second, wishing to enjoy this breeze for as long as he could. It was one of the few things he took any real joy in ever since that day…

But that was beside the point.

Just a moment ago, he and others had lined up at a cliffside overseeing the Emerald Forest, which was a lush sea of green for as far as the eyes could see. The headmaster, Ozpin, as well as the deputy headmistress Glynda Goodwitch had both been there and had given them a quick rundown on what was to be done.

Use a landing strategy to enter the forest, form a partnership, and then make their way to the center of the forest where they were to obtain a relic to bring back. The partnership was to be formed via the first person they lay eyes on, a rather haphazard way of deciding teams in the end, but Jaune hadn't questioned it.

What he had questioned, however, was if it'd be possible to simply launch himself into the forest rather than wait for the spring panel he'd been on to launch him instead. His question had caught the headmaster a bit by surprise, but he'd replied in the affirmative not even a full split second later.

And so it had been with that confirmation that Jaune had dashed and leapt off the cliff into the forest below, well before the other prospective students could be launched.

Thus, his current airborne position.

As he descended now, he opened his eyes and looked below, undeterred by the thick branches he was about to smash through. He didn't even bother drawing his swords to cut them out of his way, he simply smashed right through them.

It was only when he was about to the ground that he finally took action, landing in a graceful roll to reduce the impact upon his body and getting up on his feet in one fluid motion.

This was hardly the first time he's done this kind of thing before, after all, having had to leap into action many times in the past during the past two and a half years he's been traveling out in the frontier, longer than that if he included how long in general he's been active. Not that such a fall would've actually hurt him, but the whole idea of rolling into it allowed him to get into the action just a bit faster and that's what mattered.

Alas, there was no action to be had just yet – no Grimm in sight and he highly doubted Beacon would have a forest teeming with bandits or hostile wildlife.

Nonetheless, he was fully alert as he started stomping forth.

Even with the smell of the forest around him, he remained aware of how he stunk of sweat but was unbothered by it. Instead, he fully intended to use it to his advantage.

He'd woken up early this morning as he usually did to engage in his usual calisthenics – push-ups, sit-ups, squats, armbars and much more – as well as practicing his unarmed combat on some extremely sturdy punching bags that he'd scrounged up in the training room nearby. He never set a number of reps to do, instead always settling to keep doing his exercises until every associated muscle was torn and inwardly bleeding, until his very bones fractured and creaked from the abuse. Only then did he ever stop his exercises. He'd have practiced with his swords too, but since he'd had to stow them in a locker like the rest of the potential students, that had to be reluctantly given up.

His clothes, plain and simple barring the Arc family crest on his long sleeve shirt, did more than provide him full range of motion – it was to also cover the fact that blood was visible from beneath his skin all over his body, the perfectly normal result of his training. It'd only take a few hours at most before the blood simply disappeared and his body fully healed, stronger than ever.

He was unsure if he'd be able to continue his training regimen in Beacon given he'd have to attend class and the like, but that was something he'd worry about later.

Indeed, his main priority right now was to ensure his fellow initiates were okay.

As he trudged through the forest, he listened and looked overhead whenever he saw the others getting launched through the sky in different directions and angles. He kept a close eye in particular on those whose 'landing strategies' weren't going so well and as he watched, he silently estimated how feasible it was to reach them in case they needed help.

It pained him more than he could put into words that many of them he wouldn't be able to reach if they really needed help, but it was a pain he'd gotten used to.

After all, for all his efforts, he can't save everyone. That said, he'd go to hell and back trying.

But really, he had to stop worrying so much. Surely, Beacon had safety measures in place for those that really were in danger of dying or being severely injured. This didn't relax him very much, but it helped him concentrate on what had to be done.

He then heard an all too familiar growl from nearby, roughly thirty meters away.

A Beowulf.

It had spotted one of the initiates overhead and watched in malicious silence now as it tracked their descent.

It started to head in the direction the person fell in – only to stop and sniff at the air.

Jaune's sweat. It could smell it now, just as he wanted it to. That way he could take most of the Grimm's focus away from others.

That said, just because he fully intended to act as bait didn't mean he was just going to take whatever they wished to dish out.

Before the Beowulf could even turn around completely, he was already upon it. Drawing his right blade, he swung and decapitated the Grimm in one clean swing, then allowed the momentum to carry him in a spin. Mid-spin, he drew his left blade now and sliced the Beowulf a second time with even greater force, destroying a majority of the body before death could fully set in for it.

The first swing alone had been a guaranteed kill, but Jaune would allow no chances.

An absolute, surefire kill. That is what he sought every time he engaged in life or death battles. Whether it was Grimm or bandits or any other criminal, he'd refuse to go easy on them. More times than he could count in the beginning of his treks, enemies have tried even in death to deliver some final blow. Against him, this was no issue. But should that possible strike be aimed at a civilian caught up in the mix? Intolerable, absolutely unacceptable.

Even if the others in this forest with him had been trained for this sort of thing, he'd no allow excessive harm to befall them.

His mind and senses sharpened as the Beowulf's body disintegrated, other Grimm now howling and roaring from nearby. This Grimm hadn't been the only one in this small clearing, just as he'd both expected and desired.

He turned to his left first and then, spotting more Beowulves now making their way towards him. And ever so slightly, he could hear more off in the distance, where the person overhead must have landed.

His eyes narrowed and his grip on his swords nearly tightened too much.

He had to ensure their safety.

But first…

He stood there and waited for the Grimm to approach him some more. Twenty yards, then ten yards and then only ten feet…

Jaune had inhaled deeply when they first noticed him and now as they neared so much, he exhaled.

Then he finally moved.

His very form blurred as he sprung into action, his swords truly invisible from the sheer speed with which he moved as he started swinging, slicing, cutting, and cleaving.

These Beowulves, like many in the past, had absolutely no idea what suddenly hit them.

He tore into the ones coming from his left despite them being further away than the ones from his right. This was done to open up some more distance between him and the ones from the other direction, not that such a thing would've made much a difference to him anyways.

Grimm were Grimm and he'd slay them all the same.

Not once did he ever slow down or allow himself to be deterred. If anything, he sped up as he went, always staying in motion.

He cut down one or two with each swing, well before the Beowulves could even mount a proper offensive. Those that did manage to start attacking were quickly overwhelmed before their claws could get even close to him.

In the span of mere seconds, the dozen that had come from his left were dead, leaving only those from the other side now.

His last swing in his vicious assault had been a downwards and his left blade cut deep into the very ground. Such was the strength of his attack. But he didn't stop there, rather he continued with the swing, doing a full circular motion with his arm. Because of his, his left sword eventually rose back up and cut into the nearest Beowulf that had tried to aim for his back.

Jaune then turned, his eyes blazing with power and he slid across the ground as he spun to fully face the remaining Grimm.

He readied his right sword and swung with easily the greatest display of strength thus far. His recovering muscles tore from the sheer strain he was putting on them and even his bone fractures worsened from his overexertion.

The pain was incredible. To anyone else, such pain would've crippled them, even left some in complete shock.

But to him, the pain was nothing. Less than that, even.

Aura bled off his moving form like a blazing sun, with the greatest concentration of it being within his blade as he fully swung it.

A wave of pure destruction born from the combination of sheer strength, speed, and aura was unleashed and devastated the entirety of the remaining Grimm in addition to numerous trees and bushes in the general direction he'd swung in.

Blood boiled to the point his veins burst from within his right arm, darkening his sleeve. He hardly even felt it.

The Grimm had been annihilated. To him, that was what mattered right now. For he could finally continue his trek.

He broke into a mad dash in the direction the person overhead had gone in. As he did, he could hear the sounds of fighting, which had been intensifying at the same time he'd been battling just now, begin to wane. The howls of several Beowulves abruptly ceased as the sound of steel and gunfire remained constant.

By all means, he shouldn't be so worried. Such was a sign the person was doing okay, but he still picked up his pace, his speed increasing even more-.

-Until he abruptly began to slow down and eventually stop just seconds later.

He saw someone in sight and the person – a girl – had just finished her own scuffle for the most part. She stood tall and proud over one final Grimm, yet another Beowulf though it was just slightly bigger than an average one.

It whined in anger from where it'd been knocked to the ground and tried to swipe at the girl's legs a split second later.

However, a swift swing of her own blade killed it for good before its attack could connect.

Jaune could only watch in mildly concerned silence as the girl took a deep breath, clearly having exerted herself just a fair bit, and sheathed her weapon for now.

"Are you alright?" he finally called out when she looked his way, slight surprise evident in her eyes.

She blinked in response to his question but then smiled lightly right afterwards. "I'm fine, thank you." Her smile grew a bit.

"Looks like we're partners now, Jaune. I hope we get along," she – Pyrrha – said.

Jaune could only return the smile with a small one of his own.

Looks like he really had been worrying for nothing, after all.

* * *

For roughly ten minutes or so, the newly formed duo walked in silence towards the destination they'd been told to go for these relics.

The whole time they walked, they surprisingly encountered no more Grimm, merely some annoyingly overgrown tree roots and bushes to hop over or cut through.

Pyrrha watched as her new partner, Jaune, took the lead, using one of his swords to expertly cut a path forward for them.

The redheaded Mistral champion couldn't help but marvel at her luck. The surprise attack from that small pack of Beowulves aside, she considered herself quite fortunate that her partner happened to be the one person she'd genuinely wanted to partner with in the first place.

The silence was a bit awkward though. Looks like Jaune wasn't much of a talker when out in the field, which was respectable – never hurt to be so alert for danger – but also made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"So, funny running into you so soon," she decided to say, unsure of what else to say.

"Same," he said without looking back at her as he stepped over a large tree root. He did hold out a hand, however, for her to take.

The gesture, so naturally done on his part, was enough to make Pyrrha color a little bit from embarrassment, but a pleasant sort of embarrassment. The tree root was hardly some great obstacle for her… but the gentlemanly gesture was certainly appreciated.

After allowing herself to be helped over it, she quickly moved beside him rather than let him take the lead again.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself, Jaune," she began. "What brought you to Beacon? Had any trouble so far?"

Jaune's stoic expression hardened a bit, but it was so brief a thing that the redhead could've sworn she might have imagined it. "…I came because I felt I could learn a lot from here," he answered, and what a vague and generic answer it was. "As for the initiation so far, it's been fine."

Pyrrha took one look at the dark spots on his shirt and had to bite her lip to keep from saying that it didn't quite seem 'fine' to her. She was a naturally kind person and seeing someone look hurt stirred her protective instincts, especially in the case of someone she'd quickly developed an interest in.

Alas, she kept quiet. Jaune didn't seem to move with any kind of pain or limp, so perhaps it was just some minor flesh wounds… which still raised the question of why he didn't use his aura to guard himself.

Off in the distance, the sounds of battle could suddenly be heard erupting. Looks like the other initiates have come across troubles of their own along the way.

From beside her, Jaune's entire body tensed up, every single muscle readying themselves. The suddenness of this and the sheer eagerness she could sense from him took her entirely by surprise.

Jaune… he was pretty intense. His gaze right now looked as if it could make stone spontaneously combust.

But intensity aside, she could see the worry in his blue eyes, the concern. The same look he'd had just moments ago when he'd stumbled across her.

"I'm sure the others are fine." She placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "They wouldn't have been invited for this initiation if they weren't capable."

He looked at her blankly for a second before blinking, shaking his head as recovering from a haze. "Right."

After that, the silence from before continued.

The walk kept on going until they eventually reached a cave of all things… and with the sounds of battle going on not so far away from it.

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as she listened keenly. There seemed to be only the one Grimm… but it didn't sound like a Beowulf, that much was certain.

If anything sounded more like-.

"-Deathstalker!" Jaune hissed from beside her. He was looking towards the cave's entrance. Beside it was an image carved into the rock.

It was clearly a warning that something had been lurking within the cave. And judging by the sounds of it, someone hadn't heeded the warning, hence the fight nearby.

Pyrrha was now the one to tense up. Beowulves were one thing, but a Deathstalker was another. It would definitely take a full team to take one out.

And if only one or two people were going against it…

"Come on!" Jaune called out, already running off in the direction of the battle.

She was surprised by his speed, shocked even, but Pyrrha was quick to follow, drawing Milo out in its sword form.

Well, she silently thought as she and her partner ran, at least the initiation wouldn't be boring.

* * *

One Nora Valkyrie was feeling a little miffed and maybe – MAYBE – just a tad tiny bit scared.

When she and her longtime friend Ren had landed and linked up, she'd wasted no time having some fun. Just because she knew what had to get done didn't mean she couldn't take a detour – or two or three or maybe a dozen – along the way to the relics.

So, not long after Ren did his badass kung fu against a King Taijitsu, she'd roped him into her latest and coolest idea yet: Ursa riding!

Boy, what fun that had been. She almost felt bad for that small Ursa, since she'd literally rod it to death, but eh, it was fun at least.

And it had also taken her near this nifty looking cave. After Ren had caught up with her after she'd gone off with the Ursa, she'd dragged him inside under the pretense of finding some super cool secret thing…

…And had been rewarded with a Deathstalker of all things. She should've known better than to ignore that carving on the cave wall. Oh well.

But anyways, that was now the problem she and Ren were facing. For even after dashing out of the cave, the Deathstalker had given chase.

She and Ren had fired their respective weapons at it, but to pretty much no effect. Nora could get why Ren's Stormflower wouldn't prove effective but seeing the large Grimm shrug off her grenades was just insulting.

But again, was also kinda scary.

"Keep running, Ren!" she exclaimed as she shot a few more grenades in an attempt to slow down the pissed off Deathstalker. But the Grimm in question merely raised its massive claws to guard its face. Not because it had to per say, but by this point Nora was certain it was just tired of being shot near its face.

Ren, for his part, didn't run, however. Rather, he tried to circle around it, peppering it with bullets.

Ah, really, what an awesome guy Ren was! He may gripe a lot about some things, but he never ran!

That said, his shots still weren't doing anything. And with it guarding against her grenades and occasional swings with Magnhild, at this rate the best they could do was just keep running until they got the relic and returned back to the cliffs.

Jumping back when the Deathstalker's tail nearly impaled her as it continually charged forward, Nora shared a look with Ren and both of them nodded in agreement, the two of them having been together so long that verbal communication was no longer necessary for them.

As much as it pained her to do so, this was one fight they had to give up.

Or so she thought initially.

"YOU!" a voice boomed out, grabbing the attention of not just her and Ren but even the Deathstalker too.

All three of them had long since cleared out of the forest and entered an open plain. And now as they all looked back at the forest, they saw they were no longer alone.

Two people emerged, a cool looking blond with a scar on his face and an equally cool looking redheaded girl.

The blond suddenly put on a burst of speed, heading directly for the Deathstalker, which now turned fully to face him.

The Grimm hissed loudly and swiped one of its large claws at the blond. And for a solid millisecond, it looked like it was about to actually hit him – until it didn't.

The next thing any of them knew, the Deathstalker shrieked in pain as the blond had suddenly drawn forth two blades and cut into it several times.

Nora actually gaped at how fucking amazing the dude was, his swings having sliced into the smallest of openings in the Deathstalker's joints, a part of its claw splitting wide open while the rest of the arm fell off.

Then the blond slid under the stunned Grimm and spun, slicing one of its legs cleanly off on its left side before blitzing like a bolt of lightning and cutting off several more of its legs.

The Deathstalker crumbled to the ground just as the blond got clear from under it. He then looked to Ren.

"GET ITS EYES NOW!" he roared. Although he had to do so given the distance between them all, the sheer volume and intensity was enough to leave even Nora reeling.

Yet at the same time, something about this guy spurned her and especially Ren on.

Ren quickly dashed forth for a better shot and emptied his current clips into most of the Deathstalker's several eyes, the Grimm unable to defend it self thanks to having lost one arm.

It let out a shrill hiss of agony from its lost eyes now and tried futilely to move, but with most of its legs gone now, movement simply wasn't possible.

So, instead it started to flail around violently, its remaining claw and tail lashing out in any direction.

"Pyrrha, take out its remaining eyes!" the blond called out.

The redhead moved in now, switching her weapon into its gun form and firing at the remaining two eyes Ren had missed. Her initial shot missed and this alerted the Grimm to what she was aiming for, so it raised its claw to defend itself from the remaining gunfire.

But the redhead – Pyrrha – kept on running up to it, undeterred. She gave up shooting and switched her weapon into another form, a javelin.

She leapt lightly into the air, ready to through it just as the Deathstalker lashed out with its remaining claw.

However, just before it could strike her, the blond guy stepped up and did yet another amazing thing – he sheathed his blades, gripped the Deathstalker by its remaining leg and tugged it back several yards with all the ease of hauling a sack of potatoes.

It lurched awkwardly and its claw, still in mid-attack, was starting to miss Pyrrha by mere inches.

That was when Nora finally got her head in the game too and fired two grenades rapidly at the exposed elbow join of its claw. Her grenades struck true this time and blew the final arm from the elbow down right off.

This all occurred in the span of just a few milliseconds, just as Pyrrha finally threw her javelin, which sunk deep into the Deathstalker's eye.

It actually howled now, not exactly a sound a Deathstalker was said to normally make. It was a sign of how badly it was suddenly being beaten.

With its arms and legs now gone, it only had its tail left to attack with, its final remaining limb striking like it had a life all its own at anything nearby.

In this case, that'd be the blond, who danced around the strikes as he neared the downed Deathstalker with ease.

He then leapt over it from behind, the Grimm hearing him do so as he kicked off the ground. And out of sheer desperation upon hearing him approach it, it tried to impale him in midair.

It nearly succeeded too, the blond only avoiding the hit by twisting his body in mid-jump. He did this just as he was roughly halfway across the Deathstalker's body.

So, when the tail missed-.

It howled once more in pain, much greater pain than ever before really, as its own tail stabbed right into its own body.

The blond landed in front of it now and flung the blade in his right hand, the thrown weapon cutting off the stinger from the tail just before the Grimm could even try to pull it out.

He then looked in her direction, his blue eyes piercing her to the very core.

The blond didn't have to say anything at all to her for his gaze alone did the talking, as was usually only the case between her and Ren.

That he was able to do so despite not even knowing her… heh, it made her feel oddly giddy for some reason.

And she wasted no time obeying his silent command.

Switching Magnhild into its epic hammer form, Nora charged forth and leapt towards the downed Grimm, who could only watch helplessly with its sole remaining eye as she raised her hammer high.

And the last thing she was certain it saw was her smashing the stinger further into its own body.

Death was practically instantaneous, the massive Grimm writhing and letting out one final death for all of a split second before its form dissipated.

Just like that, it was dead.

Leaving behind only the four of them to stand there in place for a moment, utterly silent.

Slowly, Nora stood up to her full height and slowly eyed Ren, then the Pyrrha girl and finally the blond. They did the same, as if trying like her to comprehend how suddenly the initial situation had flipped onto its head.

Really now, if viewed from a certain perspective, it wouldn't be wrong to say it'd been a rather anti-climatic shift…

But damn, if that hadn't been cool.

Despite who knows many more Grimm could potentially be coming their way in just a bit, despite having to go get a relic still and who knows what else, Nora started to laugh, something that the redhead eventually joined her in doing if more subdued.

Eventually, even Ren and the intense blond guy cracked some amused smiles, a sight that only got Nora to laugh even harder for some reason.

Now this… this was what she'd been longing for. And now that she finally had it, she prayed like hell that nothing would ever take it from her.

* * *

Following the battle with the Deathstalker, not much else had really happened beyond some brief skirmishes with either Beowulves or Ursas, much to Lie Ren's relief. As oddly refreshing it had been to simply stand there and enjoy the victory against such a large Grimm with others, they'd all had an initiation to finish.

They'd gone as group to get some relics, one for each pair, and had then made their way back to the cliffs alongside a handful of other groups – but not before seeing the ending to a battle between an especially large Nevermore and four exceptionally skilled girls.

Ren had to admit, the way they finished off the Nevermore had been pretty cool.

But he was digressing here.

It's been a few hours since the initiation came to an end, a time that had been spent with all of them simply resting up and fixing up their clothes, which had gotten kind of messed up during all the fighting and trekking.

All in all, not a bad turnout if he had to say so himself. He could certainly see how things could've gone bad if he and Nora had been swarmed by enough lesser Grimm or had been left to their own devices against ones such as the Deathstalker. Thankfully, Pyrrha and Jaune who'd introduced themselves after the battle, had certainly helped ease off a lot of the pressure.

Clearly, teams were necessary in reducing the burden the initiation places on initiates. He could now see why teams were to be formed. Not that he ever had problem with such a thing but being a bit of a loner outside of Nora, Ren simply had a hard time imagining himself being able to effectively open up to and work alongside others.

Alas, he was still getting off track here. To be expected, really, since he wasn't used to having so many eyes on him. Okay, maybe not necessarily on him, but the point still stood.

Currently, he, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune were all standing side by side, awaiting their turn as others were called up to be officially branded as teams and welcomed into Beacon, by the headmaster himself no less.

He quietly gulped, his nerves a little frayed as their turn finally came up a few minutes later, though when Nora gently bumped against him, he felt himself calm down and shoot his longtime friend a grateful smile, which she returned with an ever-lively grin and wink.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. And Nora Valkyrie," the headmaster called out as they walked up on stage. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR."

Team JNPR… catchy. He liked it.

Evidently, so did Nora, for she let out a giddy squeal and practically leapt onto him, crushing him with a hug.

Hardly the first time she's ever done this, but it didn't stop him from nearly losing his ability to breathe in the process.

Her grip on him was tight that he just managed to hear when the headmaster continued uninterrupted. "Led by… Jaune Arc." He looked at the blond teen in question, who stepped forward a bit. "Congratulations, young man. I expect much from you."

Jaune nodded…. And that was it, stepping back beside Pyrrha with no other acknowledgement of having been named leader.

Making their way off stage seconds later, they passed by the four girls who'd taken out the large Nevermore, and Ren didn't miss the way Jaune turned and smiled lightly at the four of them, nodding in silent greetings, a gesture that was returned by the blonde and the cloak wearing girl, who waved at him quite lively. As for one Weiss Schnee, however, she merely gazed at Jaune blankly before walking on whilst the last girl nodded politely to Jaune.

Looks like his new leader had been making friends already. Interesting.

Though what Ren personally found more interesting about Jaune was how he was taking all of this.

As the four of them headed for a corner of the room to continue watching the proceedings and semi-quietly celebrate their official acceptance into beacon, the R of the newly christened JNPR shot Jaune an intrigued look.

Whereas Pyrrha and Nora looked happy as could be over becoming students now and even he could feel himself smiling slightly over this matter too, Jaune looked dead serious over… something.

If anything, after being told he was leader just a minute ago, his expression only seemed to harden. If not for having personally seen the burning intensity Jaune had whilst in battle, Ren would've sworn the blond teen was stone cold right now.

Clearly there was a reason for such a thing.

And despite never really wanting to stick his nose in anyone's business, Ren found himself wondering just what Jaune's story was, for him to be so… well, not two-faced, but something along those lines he supposed.

He bet it'd be an interesting story for sure.

* * *

 **Hope this second chapter managed to successfully build up the hype from the first one. Will admit that writing it did feel a little awkward, if only because the whole initiation thing was necessary for obvious reasons yet at the same time something I kind of just wanted to skip since, well, it's been done a billion time already in fanfics. Hence the skipping around and separation of RWBY's Nevermore fight from the Deathstalker one.**

 **On that note, I especially hope that Jaune's solo fight scene and the Deathstalker battle were to your liking, for they will serve as a minor sample of what's to come as far as Jaune's intensity goes. Trust me, he's only getting started and naturally, so am I, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	3. Chapter 3

Man, the favs and follows just keep coming! Seriously, it amazes me how much you guys are liking this so far. Just hope I'll be able to keep your attention, ha ha.

And by God! Just watched the new Broly movie recently and holy fuck, I love it! Always been a Broly fan, but this new canon version of him is so awesome that it almost physically hurts! Now here I am feeling tempted to write some fics about him, ha ha. But seriously, if you guys are DB fans or just want to see some excellent animation and action, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is definitely worth checking out!

Heh, but my brief fanboying aside, allow me to just say one thing about this fic. Again, just want to say this fic will be something of a slow burn as far as the crazy action goes but will naturally be heavy on the character interaction and depth.

This will be evident starting with this chapter since it'll still be covering volume 1 of the canon series, which as we all know, was more about set-up than actual action. But that isn't to say it will all stay the same. And of course, after watching Broly, I've new ideas for some of the action scenes too, so it'll definitely be pretty epic when I get around to that for good, ha!

Well then, let's get started!

Chapter 3

Jaune wasn't someone that dreamed very much, no matter how deeply or lightly he slept. It simply wasn't in his nature.

However, that wasn't to say he didn't dream regularly. Indeed, during his time traveling in the frontier, he dreamed every so often, usually after a day of activity.

And it was always the same exact dream – a dream of memories past, when he was but a young boy.

He dreamt of his seven sisters, all so rowdy but loving, messing with him by putting his hair in pigtails on occasion or playing outside with one another, causing trouble.

He dreamt of how he used to play video games with his dad whenever the man was home for a while, his boisterous laughing echoing in the room whenever he showed Jaune up at his favorite fighting games.

And he dreamt of his mother and how he used to stand on her feet whenever she made a large breakfast, singing along with her beautiful voice as she merrily cooked.

And then those memories, so filled with joy and longing, would be plunged into a dark abyss, an abyss known otherwise to him as 'that day' – the day where his life, as he once recalled it, came to an end.

Innocence, once lost, can be never regained.

And the same could be said of his freedom.

On that day, he'd lost both, completely and utterly. The person he once was and the person he could've likely been died that day amongst the violence.

By all rights, such loss should've left him in despair, but it didn't. Instead, all he could feel in response to reliving that day over and over every time he did dream… was absolutely nothing.

And it was this same feeling of nothingness that always caused him to wake up.

He opened his blue eyes, no longer looking so intense, and stared up at the ceiling of the dorm room he now stayed in with his newly formed team.

There was hardly any sound at all save for the light snoring coming from Nora just two beds over whilst Pyrrha quietly tossed and turned in her sleep, a little habit she'd warned him and the others of having earlier, much to her mild embarrassment.

It was dark outside, just barely past midnight. Classes would begin in several hours.

By all rights, he should get up, change, and find somewhere to do his exercises as he usually did, but he stopped himself from doing so. Knowing himself, he'd train and train until it was time for class and even he knew that showing up reeking of sweat and blood wouldn't be a good first day impression.

So, he merely lied there in bed, unable to tear his gaze away from the ceiling, almost as if fascinated by it.

In reality, he was lost in thought and memories.

His rowdy sister and their natural cheer…

His loud and boisterous father with his good humor and playful personality at home…

His demure but radiant mother with her lovely singing voice and kind smile…

The memories of them occupied his thoughts completely as was often the case whenever he awoke from the dream.

He missed them terribly and he resolved to give them a call later, once classes were done for the day, if only to hear how they were doing.

Considering how long it's been now since he last talked to any of them too… he really was a terrible son and brother, wasn't he?

Sighing lightly, he finally bothered to get up and look around the dorm room. He'd done so once already when they'd first been provided it along with scrolls, but he did so again right now for the sake of ridding himself of his current line of thought – continuing on with it would only lead him down a road he's already been down before and he had no desire to repeat it.

Due to how much time he's spent outside the walls, he'd become a bit out of touch with modern architecture and technology. Although he'd grown up with video games and other stuff, his years out in the wilderness by himself or within the more rural villages and towns had left him reeling somewhat when he'd tried to get his scroll working earlier to even access the room, a little event that had actually left him just marginally embarrassed.

Though he'd quickly relearned earlier how to use a lot of the technology that Beacon had to offer, he resolved to never let it slow him down again – after all, there may come a time someone needed to be saved and he couldn't allow himself to be slowed by a few precious seconds by something stupid like unlocking a door or locker with the scroll.

Ah, but on that note…

Not for the first time so far, he looked now to his sleeping dormmates, or more precisely, his team, people that he was now responsible for.

He tried not to clutch his bed's covers too tightly at such a thought.

Him, leader of a team… even now, the thought boggled his mind a bit, but at the same time only sharpened his resolve.

For so many years now, he's vowed to help and save as many people as he could. And now here he was, being put in an official position that would require him to do more than just help the others survive, but to also guide them in battle. Truly, he'd been given an incredible responsibility and even he was left feeling a little taken aback by it all.

But he swore to himself to do what he could for them. If they wished to fight beside him, he'll gladly welcome their aid.

And if they ever ended up hiding behind him for whatever possible reason? No worries, he'll just as gladly offer them his protection.

It was in his nature to do so, after all, the very core of his entire being, his entire existence. To go against what he is was like an ant trying to stifle a hurricane, it simply wasn't possible.

Ah, but enough of his thinking and pontificating. If he was going to be up this early, he might as well try to do something to kill some time.

Now… just how many push-ups and sit-ups can he do over the next few hours?

* * *

When Nora awoke from her deep slumber of epic dreams where she ruled as queen, it was to the sound of her new leader, the fearless Jaune, showering. A few minutes after that, while she groggily and grudgingly woke up fully, Jaune exited the bathroom, fully dried and dressed in Beacon's spiffy uniform.

The second she saw this, she almost nearly panicked. As rambunctious as she usually is, that didn't mean she wanted to be late for class or anything, especially not on the first day.

But he'd shaken his head gently and motioned to the digital clock near the room's sole nightstand and Nora breathed easier upon seeing the time.

Sheesh, looks like her leader was an early riser. Not that that was a bad thing.

Anyways, as several more minutes passed by, Renny and badass girl Pyrrha woke up too, just as groggy as she'd been just now. As for Jaune, he slipped out of the room to give them some time to freshen up, which they all did after bidding each other a quick good morning.

When he returned about ten minutes later, it was plates of food, utterly mouthwatering in their taste.

By then they'd all hastily been freshening up but took this break to eat a quick breakfast.

He'd gotten them pancakes, something that put him much higher on Nora's favorite person list, now second only to Ren.

Not much was really said as they ate and after doing so, Jaune took the plates away while they all went back to freshening up.

She and Pyrrha shared the bathroom to do so, both comfortable in doing so due to their same gender.

As she put on her uniform, Nora felt herself grinning like a loon. Obviously staying her in this dorm meant she was now a Beacon student but wearing the uniform somehow had more of an impact. And judging by a quick glance to Pyrrha, she felt the same way.

Stepping out of the bathroom to let Ren go in and finish up, she eyed their leader who stoically sat on his bed.

Her grin grew. "Ready to start learning how to kick some Grimm butt?!"

Jaune smiled slightly. "I guess so."

Nora scoffed comically. "Bah, come on, put some emotion in it! Today's the start of our official journey to royalty!"

"Uhm, you mean huntresses, right?" Pyrrha chipped in from beside her.

Nora laughed darkly. "I know what I said."

"She does," added in Ren from within the bathroom.

The brief exchange of quips was enough to draw some mild laughter from them all for the next minute or so, just in time for Ren to step out, fully dressed in the uniform.

They all had roughly a solid half hour or so until the first class was said to start, but Nora was now vibrating with energy, her usual reserves restored by those deliciously fluffy pancakes.

She couldn't stand waiting around any longer.

"Come on, you guys!" She shouted. "We've got other new students to show up!"

"And here I thought I was the leader…" quietly quipped Jaune, though it was kind of hard to tell how serious he was being or not.

"Oh, sorry!" Nora said dramatically. "Lead the way, fearless leader!"

He smiled again, just a little bit more than before. However, if only for a split second, his expression had shifted into something that definitely hadn't been amusement. Nora was almost half-convinced she'd hallucinated it, really.

But she shoved the oddity she'd (possibly) seen to the back of her mind for now! For she had far more important things to do! Like learning right away on how to kill even more Grimm than she already did!

Yeah, today was going to rock!

* * *

Ren consoled a less than chipper Nora with gentle pats on her head while she tried not to sob into her arms over the despair she was clearly feeling… all while trying frantically to write his own notes with just one hand, but it was tough going.

Beacon didn't have their students study in too many classes, so each class was roughly an hour or so in length.

The first class of their day had been Grimm Studies with one professor Peter Port, who'd been… interesting. But at the same time, definitely not what he'd expected. For one thing, the man had primarily discussed himself, specifically his various achievements(?) throughout life, like all the Grimm he's killed and all the women he's woed during his travels and more.

It'd been a rather dry class, to be honest. Many of the students had nearly fallen asleep. Hell, some actually had fallen asleep and it hadn't been until the end of the class when he called on a volunteer to test their might that they all had truly started paying attention.

It'd been one Weiss Schnee against a Boarbatusk of all things – how the professor had caught and locked one up, Ren could only guess at – and it'd been a rough going for the heiress until she was able to slay it, but with more than a little stress still remaining tightly wound within her.

He couldn't claim to know what exactly was going on with that team RWBY, but so far it didn't seem like Weiss was a big fan of how things had turned out. He sure hoped nothing would happen with that team. It'd be pretty messed up if a team was to already fall apart on just the first day.

Anyways, that had been earlier and Ren almost longed for it right now.

They were currently in a history class, taught by professor – no, doctor, he hastily amended – Bartholomew Oobleck. And unlike with professor Port, everyone was awake and alert for this class, if only because the man talked at lightning speed, hence his current situation of frantic writing.

Nora had already thrown in the towel on keeping up with the professor's speed, Pyrrha was doing admirably well though Ren could see her straining her ears and hand badly in trying to keep up. Ren was in the same boat, only lasting this long thanks to his years of 'training' in keeping up with a sugar-enhanced Nora.

However, it was Jaune who once again impressed him the most, his leader simply sitting where he was, his intense blue eyes focused entirely on the professor. He wasn't even writing any notes, he simply sat there with hands intertwined under his chin, dedicating his entire being to listening.

Even if it turned out he wouldn't recall anything, Ren still couldn't help but admire the blond teen's sheer amount of coolness under pressure. It truly was admirable.

Eventually, the veritable torture session came to an end and every student longed for freedom – only to despair ever so slightly when the professor immediately told them to start reading ahead for the next class.

Ren tried to hide his wince at that, truly he did. But he failed. His only saving grace was that everyone looked just as terrified as he felt.

Seriously, if any other professor was like that… he shivered.

Up next, they had a class with a professor Peach, a lively woman whose demeanor immediately reminded them all of their previous professor only much easier to understand since she didn't talk at like a billion miles an hour, something that they all gratefully thanked the heavens for.

That class came and went by in a veritable eye blink compared to the previous two classes despite being even lengthier than them, for by the time it ended, it already time for lunch, much to Ren's amazement.

Not that he was complaining – with how stressing the classes had just been in their own different ways, he'd already found himself mentally and even to some extent physically drained and in need of some food.

He never thought he'd even think this, but he was almost looking forward to eating almost as much as Nora normally did.

Heading for the cafeteria and swiftly getting in line while meals were served, he pondered over how the day had been going so far.

And much to his surprise, he found himself wondering that if the very first day was like this, then just what did the future have in store for them all?

Well, whatever would end up coming their way, he sure hoped it wouldn't be as bad as the classes so far…

…Huh. Why did it feel as though he just jinxed himself?

* * *

As she got in line along with the rest of her team, Pyrrha did her best to ignore the stares and whispers her very presence garnered. This was something she had plenty of practice doing, but it didn't make it any easier for her to simply shrug off.

If anything, it was even harder than ever for her to do so. She'd hoped her reputation wouldn't extend as far as Vale, but she'd clearly been hoping for too much as she heard excited and disbelieving whispers of 'the Invincible Girl' and 'Mistral champion' from others further behind her in line and from those already seated at some of the tables.

As the line moved forward, some tried to make some small talk with her, small talk that she's heard plenty of times by now, she replied cordially but made sure to shake them off as best as she could, something that proved much easier with some much appreciated help from Nora, who began to animatedly whine to her about classes just now.

Such talk was able to get a big smile out of her. She'd certainly been lucky with the team she'd ended up with.

There was Nora here, who seemed more caught up in her own little world and whatever grabbed her interest than in focusing on her reputation.

Then there was Ren whose seemingly longtime friendship with the former had pretty much inoculated him against all sorts of things. Surely, the amount of energy required of him to keep pace with Nora meant that focusing on anything else wasn't worth the effort, which she was certainly grateful for.

And then… there was her partner and leader, Jaune, whose reaction to her fame being something she could only describe as indifferent acknowledgement. Thanks to Weiss' little rant yesterday before initiation, he was now aware of her status as Mistral's 4-time regional champion and although he seemed to admire her for such an achievement, it was due more to her efforts in obtaining such acclaim rather than the title itself, which was honestly a first for her. More so that beyond such a thing he just didn't care at all about status.

This was something made obvious yet again as he went ahead and got her a tray too in addition to one for himself. "Here."

"Thank you," she said gratefully as she accepted the tray.

It was amazing how such a simple but heartfelt act could so completely cheer her up. Even when some others nearby whispered amongst themselves of who exactly Jaune could be to be so close to her, Pyrrha hardly felt annoyed anymore.

He merely nodded and the two waited to the side while Nora and Ren got their food and together they found an empty table and sat down at it.

Without a word, they all started to dig in, Nora more so than anyone, eating not unlike how a kid would only with even more gusto somehow.

"So what do you think of the classes so far?" Pyrrha risked asking, wishing to make some conversation, especially since she could feel a lot of eyes on her right now. She needed something to distract herself with. That, and she really did wish to get to know the others, especially since all of yesterday after initiation had been more focused on simply fixing up the dorm room the way they wanted and then heading to sleep.

"They're… interesting," Ren began. "In particular, our professors. They're a colorful bunch."

Nora huffed. "They're nuts!" she nearly shrieked. "One of them talks more about himself than Grimm and another talks like it's going out of style! One class, we're all dying of boredom and the next, we're all trying to not overheat our brains! Only the last class was normal enough!"

"It's not that bad… it'll just take some time to get fully used to it…" Ren mumbled.

"Yeah, by that point we'll already be dead from wearing ourselves down! Isn't this supposed to be a huntsmen school?! Where's the epic class fieldtrips to kill Grimm or save towns?!" Nora whined.

Pyrrha giggled at her energy. "Well, it would be a bit much to start with that so early on. They do have to work up to that point for us."

"Bah, you were barely doing better than us! I could practically hear your mind shutting down during the first two classes," Nora continued.

This caused the redhead to blush a little from embarrassment. Nora… she wasn't exactly wrong.

"Same here," a voice called out, clearly belonging to that of a girl.

Pyrrha blinked mildly in surprise and turned in her spot to see who was now approaching them.

It was the blonde girl from that RWBY team, who was now grinning wryly at them. And just a few feet behind her was the black-haired girl that was her partner, Blake, if Pyrrha remembered right from the team assignment yesterday, while the blonde was Yang.

"Mind if we sit here too?" the blonde – Yang – asked as she hefted up her tray. "Most of the other tables are getting full already."

"O-Oh, sure!" Pyrrha spoke on behalf of her team and scooted over to make more room, not that she had to given they were the only team at the table thus far.

Yang grinned in thanks whilst Blake merely nodded and took a seat.

Then she turned to Jaune all of a sudden. "Hey there, Jaune. Looks like we're finally having that little hang out I mentioned last time, eh?"

Pyrrha watched as her partner smiled a little. "Looks that way, Yang. Good to see you. And you too," he replied, also addressing Blake, who blinked a bit but nodded again, though a bit more warmly than just a second ago.

There was a slight pause afterwards while Yang and Blake got comfortable and Jaune eyed them a little. "Where's Ruby and Weiss?"

Yang's grin got a little strained. "Well, I guess you could say they're dealing with some stuff right now. They don't exactly get along right now."

"Ah…"

Pyrrha understood what she meant right away.

During professor Port's class, while she'd done her best to take some notes, she'd noticed team RWBY's leader goofing off alongside Nora… and Weiss hadn't exactly looked pleased by that. In fact, it'd been that frustration she'd clearly felt that had prompted her to volunteer to fight the Boarbatusk. Ruby had shouted out some advice throughout the match, some pretty solid advice in Pyrrha's opinion, but the heiress clearly hadn't been happy to receive any help.

She frowned in slight worry. "I see. I hope they'll work things out. Even if it's only the first day, having a strained partnership can be bad further down the line."

Yang smiled. "I'm sure they'll make up, though I'm not gonna lie, I really want to try pulling that stick out her ass…" Her smile vanished as quickly as it'd appeared and her lilac eyes were turning red now as she grumbled.

"She's a little awkward, but Ruby is a good person," Jaune suddenly said in between bites of his food. "And Weiss doesn't strike me as an inherently bad person, just entitled. So long as you leave them be for now to cool off, they'll both come around to one another."

Yang looked surprised by what he'd said. So did Blake and even Nora and Ren too. Even Pyrrha herself felt a bit taken aback by how suddenly yet earnestly Jaune had sounded there.

Then Yang chuckled. "Heh, thanks. Alright then. I'll give them some time alone for now… but if Weiss tries sassing my baby sis anymore…"

Jaune looked amused. "You'll flatten her, I know. I've an older sister that's the same way. And I can relate too whenever with my younger sisters."

Sisters, hmm? Sounded like he had a few, Pyrrha noted with mild intrigue.

Yang nodded in response to his words, looking even more at ease now before deciding to switch topics. "So, already complaining about classes? Can't say I blame you – we had the same problem too, right Blake?"

Blake, in the middle of taking a bite out of her grilled tuna sandwiches, nodded hesitantly at suddenly having their attention focused on her. "Yeah, it's not quite what I'd imagined it to be."

"Pfft, more like the exact opposite of what we'd all thought!" Nora now added again. "Like I just told them earlier, where's the Grimm slaying or town-saving?!"

"Aye, my girl~!" Yang reached out for a fist bump, clearly agreeing with her. Nora returned the fist bump most enthusiastically.

"…What about you?" Blake spoke up slowly, looking to Jaune. Pyrrha got the feeling the B of team RWBY wasn't exactly used to talking much but was trying to make an effort here to change that.

"Classes are interesting so far," Jaune said without hesitation. "Though unusual, there's a lot to be gleamed from professor Port's tales about slaying Grimm. I was interested in asking him to expand on several things but held off for now – no need to be so eager right out the gate."

Everyone sort of paused at that, having not expected such an answer.

Jaune continued. "As for history, while not my greatest interest or subject, it'll be handy in case negotiations come up – historical examples, if used right, can be used to persuade some people into standing down during conflicts or motivate them to fight."

Again, more silence.

"What about the last class?" Ren asked, interested.

"It's… it's there." Jaune had nothing else to add there, it seemed, something he looked sheepish over.

"…Heh." Yang snickered a little now. "Wow, sure wish I had that kind of attitude here. What's your secret to it?"

Jaune, having been about to take another bite, paused and did so for so long a moment that they all felt a little off-put by it.

"…It's just how I am nowadays, I guess," he eventually said. "Though I'm trying to change that…. right, that's right, that's why I'm…"

He trailed off, the last several words he'd mumbled being aimed at himself from the sound of it.

Pyrrha could only feel her interest in him grow that much more. Jaune… he was quite an enigma and he didn't even seem to be intentionally acting in such a way.

"Well, well, aren't you a mysterious one, oh fearless leader," Nora then said with a smile. "Then tell us, what's your opinion about Beacon as a whole?"

"It's severely lacking in several ways," Jaune suddenly said, putting down his fork and looking Nora right in the eyes so suddenly that the girl in question froze right on the spot. Though stated quietly, there was a force in his voice that silenced them all, even some others from nearby tables. "Firstly, these uniforms are freaking ridiculous – they inhibit our movements. Not by much, mind you, but even a second could count and if something happens suddenly enough where we're attacked while in uniform, we could be in danger.

"Secondly, those stupid rocket lockers – just what is the point of them? Why even bother with such idiotic things? If an attack were to happen either here or in Vale, we'd have to waste time calling them to us and arming ourselves. We're all fighters here, aiming to become huntsmen and huntresses and only fools would go anywhere without their weapons.

"Thirdly, location. We're miles away from Vale. _Miles._ If an attack is launched on it, mobilizing from here to there will take a solid ten minutes, maybe even fifteen. A single second – a split second, even – could mean the difference between living and dying for people and yet it'll take us minutes to get there to start helping others and combatting whatever the threat is. That's not even getting into the other two issues I just mentioned, where we'll easily be wasting time simply rushing to get changed into our combat uniforms and gathering our weapons and any additional gear before being sent in to help in the first place. That's easily a solid twenty minutes or more of us simply getting ready and sent out while people could be dying by the dozens in Vale from any crisis that could occur! The only reason I haven't voiced this to the headmaster already is because I'm trusting him to have some other measures in place to keep things under control!"

He'd gotten progressively louder with every point he made and while saying he was shouting by the end there would be wrong, he certainly wasn't quiet either, with many in the cafeteria looking his way now.

For once all eyes were not on Pyrrha and she was just barely even aware of this fact. Instead, all she could do was sort of just sit there next to him and stare like an idiot. Same went for everyone else at the table.

Jaune's rather harsh expression finally let up and he sighed. "Sorry, I… I can be overly critical of things," he said apologetically before taking a bite of his meal, an action that finally seemed to ease up on the incredible pressure that had descended upon the room, allowing everyone else to finally let out a breath they hadn't known they'd been holding and going back to what they were doing before.

"Well," Yang began, the first to smile out of the bunch, though awkwardly so. "Gotta say, you're pretty opinionated on all that – not that it's a bad thing."

Pyrrha watched as Jaune winced sheepishly. "…Sorry."

The redhead now found a moment to interject while Yang looked unsure on what to say to that. "It's nice to see you've put so much thought into it, though," she said somewhat quickly before she was left out of the conversation again. "While a little… overly critical, they're valid concerns now that you mention them… but I'm sure there's a purpose for everything."

She tried to smile in a reassuring manner, but her lack of experience with real friends left the redhead feeling uncertain if she was doing it right. For all her experience doing PR and occasional charity work, in more personal settings like this, she was just as awkward as most other teenagers.

Still, it seemed to put her blond partner a bit more at ease. "I'll take your word for it. Thank you."

Smiling genuinely now, Pyrrha allowed herself to relax a little more as she then went back to her meal for the moment, the others doing the same.

Silence followed for the time being afterwards, but after a few minutes of focusing on their food, conversation slowly began again among them, just as team RWBY's other two members finally showed up to join them.

As Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee swiftly joined them and rather roughly at first joined in the talking, Pyrrha took it all in with a slowly growing warmth in her heart.

A lot of the other people around them may still be shooting her all too familiar glances of that of fans, but she could now say she was part of a little bunch that may very well be able to alleviate the loneliness she's felt for so long.

And it felt good, damn good.

Quietly so, the P of team JNPR vowed to do what she could to keep their little circle together throughout the years to come.

* * *

Ozpin stood near his office's glass walls, providing himself with a great view of the campus below as well as much further beyond. In his hand was his usual mug of hot cocoa, which has always worked to calm him. While the sugar in it certainly wasn't good for him, it was far better than what he used to do in his youth… so to speak.

His paperwork for the day done just in time to watch the sun slowly setting, he allowed himself to merely look and get lost in the scenery. It was hardly new scenery, having long since committed to his long memory the sight of his own academy, but it still helped to instill in him a sense of serenity somewhat, especially since many other places that he's once loved to simply be in and observe were now gone, lost to the ravages of time over the course of his cursed life.

He smiled a little weakly at that particular thought. Cursed… well, he supposed it was an appropriate enough word, given how many centuries he's been around for, how many lives he's lived and lost. But it wasn't all bad. He's loved others fully and had made close friends throughout each life and though their passing always hurt, he never let it weigh upon him too much.

Still, he wished to one day be at peace himself, but such a day was far off, especially with how things were currently going for him and his allies.

Qrow had reported recently that the 'Queen' had mobilized a few of her new pawns, something that made him wary given his semi-recent 'guest' that lied comatose below this tower. However, he made sure to task Qrow with trying to track down these pawns and halt them before they can make another move and he had faith in the man's skills and perseverance, so his wariness wasn't quite as all-consuming it would've been otherwise.

That said, he couldn't afford to take it easy either. Indeed, it's been a long time since he's ever taken it easy.

More… he needed to do more. But what, precisely, should he do? This was a question that always plagued him, but more so now than ever before.

He could tell. Something about this current era… there was a shift, though what exactly it entailed, he could hardly fathom. What he did know for sure, however, was that this shift was far from over just yet. Only time will tell what it'll bring, for better or worse.

Sighing, Ozpin headed back towards his desk and took a seat, finishing off the rest of his mug before accessing student files.

Not for the first time, he scrolled them one by one until he eventually found the ones he was looking for.

The first was Ruby Rose, Tai Yang's and Summer's daughter. Taught by Qrow on how to wield a scythe, her skills were certainly quite advanced for a fifteen-year-old trainee, but for all her potential as a huntress, it wasn't her skills that had attracted his attention to her nor was it her heroism in attempting to thwart Roman Torchwick.

No, it'd be her eyes. Her silver eyes, inherited from her mother.

Although it pained him, they'd certainly be of great use in the future against humanity's eternal foe, but the question he had to ask himself here was when exactly 'in the future' meant for him and for her. As pressed as he was for any and every advantage he could gain, he wasn't so cold-blooded as to force young Ruby to take up tasks far beyond her current abilities and certainly not when she still had much to look forward to in her teenage years.

Even so… with the threat of the Grimm and 'her' always on the horizon, Ozpin had to ponder when it'd be truly unavoidable in having the young girl enter the fray.

Then… there was the other file he was looking at.

Jaune Arc, one of the eight children and only son of Lucien and Marguerite Arc. Although the Arc name was quite well known thanks to the actions of their ancestor during the Great War, the Arcs themselves were pretty much every day people, living out civilian lives for the most part with only a scant few exceptions. Ozpin knew for a fact that Lucien Arc was currently the only Arc among his generation to be serving as a huntsman, and a very powerful and skilled one at that too.

With this in mind, seeing the man's son now at Beacon to become a huntsman shouldn't be too a big a surprise… except for what his transcripts both said and didn't say.

Focusing first on the latter, it didn't say anywhere in it whether or not Lucien himself trained Jaune nor did it say if he'd gone to any kind of combat school. And thanks to some help from Glynda and other background investigators, Ozpin can say for certain that Jaune Arc didn't go to any combat schools at all.

It also didn't say if he'd ever trained with Crocea Mors, a sword and shield combo that had been handed down through the family for generations. That he could vividly recall witnessing through the security cameras the young Arc fighting instead with two swords during initiation further raised the question about what had happened to the weapon.

What the transcript did say, however, or rather what it listed, was a number of towns and villages that the young Arc has visited and stayed either at or near during the past two years. An odd thing to list, yes, but seeing as these towns and villages were ones that the headmaster knew for a fact lied _beyond_ the kingdom's walls said much more than one would think.

To travel outside the kingdom was by now means impossible, but carried with it certain risks – bandits, wild animals, hazardous landscapes… and of course, Grimm. Even if he had some companions, to travel for so long out there spoke a lot about his ability to defend himself.

Not only that, but the transcript also had on it numerous references, primarily from the town's mayors and village's leaders, including names and ways of safely contacting them should technological methods somehow fail.

As was natural for anyone that aspired to attend Beacon or any other academy, background investigations were fairly thorough and efforts were made to talk with at least several of the people Jaune had listed on his mailed-in application papers.

And no matter who was contacted, they all only had good things to say about the young Arc, speaking of both his character and skill in great detail. And although it could have been assumed that much of it was merely empty praise, overstatements and outright hyperbole, there'd been no mistaking the genuine respect and admiration in these people's voices.

They truly trusted young Jaune and vouched for him whole-heartedly, having listed numerous ways in which he's aided them.

And having seen for himself the sheer intensity the blond teen's very presence seemed to have to it as well as how he'd fought during the initiation, Ozpin was now quite certain that the people spoken to about Jaune had been telling the truth.

Jaune Arc had certainly been around and had done much.

But what exactly did he do? Sure, he'd apparently taken on Grimm and had fought off bandits for many towns and villages out in the frontier as it was called, but no real specifics were ever given. Just how many Grimm did he go up against at any one time? What types of Grimm? What about the bandits, how many did he usually fight against and how well-armed and trained had they been? These were important factors.

That his own family hadn't bothered to make any comments on the transcript itself too was also a bit of an eyebrow-raiser for the headmaster, for surely if Jaune's strength and skill was that great, Lucien would've gladly put in a word for his son.

And of course, there was the very fact that something just felt… well, not 'off' per say, but certainly unusual about the blond teen, though for all his knowledge and wisdom, Ozpin could scarcely imagine what that meant.

If nothing else, however, Jaune Arc was already shaping up to be an interesting freshman, just as much as Ruby Rose would inevitably be.

He looked forward to seeing how exactly the young man would develop.

He just prayed he'd have the time to see said development before things inevitably went wrong.

* * *

 **This chapter was brought to you by a combination of Blizzard by Daichi Miura and I Beg you by Aimer, two very awesome songs that helped me stay focused during the writing process. By all means, if you haven't heard them before, please give them a check out.**

 **My blatant advertisement there aside, (heh!) the purpose of this chapter was once again to merely further set the roots of what's to come as far as characterization and the like will go. All of the differences between this version of Jaune and the canon version of him aren't merely due to my whims – there's story purpose behind it.**

 **And given how much people are talking about what's going on in the current volume, I'm assuming everyone reading this is fairly caught up with volume 6 of RWBY, hence why I've already thrown around some mentions of Ozpin's past there. Primarily because trying to keep such info hidden would be plain stupid, again because I'm sure most of you already know of it, and partially because the recent revelations in the beginning of volume 6 aren't the main focus of this fic. Hope you understand.**

 **Also, just want to say right now that this fic will naturally diverge from canon at some point, though when exactly that'll occur I can't quite say yet. There will be some differences here and there, but it'll be a while before said differences build upon each other enough for the divergence to be noticeable.**

 **Whelp, with that said, hope you did find this chapter interesting… and not to worry, there's going to be plenty of fun stuff coming up soon enough!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	4. Chapter 4

So, watched Glass recently. Have to say… I'm divided on it. On the one hand, the acting was excellent, especially James McAvoy's for once more cycling through multiple personalities on-screen in a matter of seconds, and Glass' little speech to the Horde about how comics and real life are related (relative to within the movie world) was oddly touching to me and certainly makes me wonder about a bunch of what-ifs.

On the other hand, well, I made the mistake of going into this movie thinking it'd have some pretty decent action and that wasn't quite the case since action in and of itself obviously wasn't the main draw of Glass. I honestly can't even remember if Shyamalan ever did an action flick, but even then I walked away disappointed in that respect.

Also, well, as is typical of him, there was quite the twist near the end of it and I'm certainly not alone in saying it really screwed with an otherwise good storyline, screwed with it so much in fact that even with hindsight clearing up some stuff, it's still quite frustrating. I rarely say things like this, but I feel like viewers were robbed of what could've and should've been a true ending to the trilogy.

Well, again, it's not a bad movie per say but not a great movie either… but it definitely could've been if not for his usual way of doing shocking twists for the sake of a shocking twist.

That said, if any of you guys have yet to see Glass but are interested, don't let me discourage you from doing so. After all, to each their own, right?

Well, my little spiel aside, not too much else to say other than thank you as usual for your continued support of this still newborn fic. Your reviews and favs and follows only fuel me all the more to tell as good a story as I can!

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 4

The first week of classes go by with a shocking speed after the first day, so much so that Ruby found herself kind of taken aback when she realized the second week was already rolling around the corner.

And although she'd expected as much, her classes hadn't hesitated to heap the homework upon her and everyone else and oh lordie, why so much?! She wasn't prepared for this!

Well, at least when in regards to solely herself, she wasn't prepared for it.

"Weiss, please help me!" she shamelessly asked of her partner.

The W of team RWBY, who sat beside her at the lunch table rolled her eyes, clearly frustrated by her plea, but her action lacked the hostility from before.

Yes, following that first day of classes, things had certainly gotten quite strained between the two of them, but after a fateful chat with the headmaster himself, she and Weiss had been able to sit down in their dorm and share a brief moment with one another.

Saying they reconciled completely might be a little much – they still had their grievances with one another, thankfully minor though. However, Ruby could happily say she could somewhat tolerate the white-haired girl's perfectionist tendencies since it did help to drive the team to do their best and Weiss in turn put up with her goofiness so long as she at least tried to do what she could for her classes.

Alas, there really was only so much she could do on her own, hence why she was now asking her bestest partner in the making for assistance…. Again, that is.

"I've already helped you enough as it is," the girl said flatly. "Time for you to try on your own. That said, I'll admit your desire to get a headstart on our new assignments now of all times is admirable."

Ruby's eyes widened. She was being abandoned here! She couldn't let that happen! "No, please, just once more~! I'm still struggling here!"

"How'd you get into this academy again…?" Weiss murmured in mild annoyance.

"Cause of my awesome scythe skills! Not my writing skills!" Ruby retorted hastily. "Remember, I skipped two years!"

Her partner sighed, but the look on her face now told Ruby that she was caving.

"Ah, come on, ice queen," Yang spoke up with a slight grin from nearby. "Ruby does make a good point – can't just expect her to suddenly learn two year's worth of material in just a few days."

Yet another sigh from the W of the team. "I suppose that's true," she reluctantly admitted. There was then a pause. "Very well… However! This. Is. The. Last. Time! Understand?!"

Ruby bobbed her head up and down, totally not intentionally ignoring those last few words. "You're the best, Weiss!"

"H-Hmph, but of course…"

"And there's her weakness: flattery!" proclaimed a giggling Nora from where she sat at the table.

Weiss blushed in embarrassment and tried to mumble some objections to that, but all that did was earn some mild laughter from everyone else at the table.

Naturally, Ruby laughed the loudest. After nearly being bonked over the head by a truly annoyed Weiss now, she smiled apologetically at her partner and then proceeded to scan everyone else who sat at the lunch table.

There were her and Weiss and of course, her sister and her partner, Blake, but there was also team JNPR – Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha freaking Nikos, and Ren, all of whom had quickly become good friends of hers in the first week here.

Ah, but of course, Jaune held the special position of 'first friend' in her heart and so her gaze naturally gravitated towards him as the laughter of the others died down.

And as she looked at him, Ruby felt herself frown just a tad bit. Not because something bad was going on or anything, oh no, nothing like that. But Jaune had that same contemplative expression on his face that she noticed he usually had whenever he wasn't joining in conversations.

Though she wouldn't dare say it aloud, he was weird like that. It was as if he was always thinking about something deadly serious, though she couldn't even begin to imagine what that might be.

But! As her first friend, it was up to her to get him to loosen up! Isn't that what Yang was trying to do with Blake, after all?!

"So, Jaune, whatcha thinking about there?" she began in a chipper voice. "About who'll fight later in combat class?"

Ah, combat class. Truly, it was the only class that held her interest. As much of a nervous wreck as she is in her other classes – academics weren't exactly her strong suit – when it came to fighting, she was all for it. Nothing beat having her baby in her arms and ready to show their stuff. And as scary as professor Goodwitch was, she offered some pretty good advice too… though Ruby, having had to fight just a few days ago, didn't quite like how the blond professor had told her to stop relying on her baby so much.

Seriously, who would ever suggest such a monstrous thing?!

"Hmm, ah, no. Was just wondering if maybe Zephyr would need some help again," Jaune answered with a slightly apologetic smile.

"Ah…" went everyone.

That was perhaps another thing about Jaune that could be deemed weird. Well, okay, not weird exactly, but definitely kind of odd.

Though she hadn't exactly been around to see how it happened in the first place, apparently on the second day of classes, Jaune had seen one of the janitors struggling to move some stuff around to clean an empty classroom and had immediately offered to help.

Since then, her fellow leader had swiftly started to chat up the janitor, named Zephyr, as well as numerous other custodians and Beacon staff and lent his aid as needed without any prompting on their part nor with any intention of being rewarded.

Despite it only being the second week, Jaune's already developed a rather noticeable reputation as being a big-time boy scout, though Ruby, ever so socially awkward, didn't understand whatever the connotations were supposed to be behind that term.

What she did know, however, was that her first friend definitely had a strong case of Samaritan syndrome, something she could certainly sympathize with – it's why she wants to be a huntress, after all – but at the same time, the sheer lengths Jaune went to for the others… it was enough to make even her balk.

"You… you really can't help but help others, can't you?" Blake commented.

Jaune paused in his eating to look at her. "It's… it's just something I've always done. I mean, helping others is never wrong."

"While admirable, I personally think you should stop," Weiss now said. "It's their job, not yours."

"Hey now, if that's what he likes to do, just leave him be," Yang suddenly said.

"No, it's fine," Jaune said. "She's right; it is their job. It's just…"

"Just…?" Yang asked, confused.

Jaune shook his head. "No, forget it. It's nothing, really."

"W-Well, for what it's worth, I think there's nothing wrong with it," Ruby now found herself saying, feeling a little uncomfortable with the atmosphere hanging over the table now. "It's like being a hero of the people!"

Jaune froze at that and looked at her with wide eyes. It was enough to make her do mental backtracks here. Had she said something wrong?

"…Heh." E-Eh? Did he just chuckle at that?

Jaune looked almost amused now, but something about his eyes… they seemed sad. And he unconsciously traced his scar a little bit. "A hero, huh?"

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha now asked.

His team had been pretty quiet up until now. If Ruby had to guess why, it must be because they'd quickly gotten used to his quirks during the first week. Even so… they looked kind of tense about it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just been doing a lot of thinking lately." Jaune looked up at something now and blinked. "Lunch is almost over. We should finish eating."

Hastily looking towards the nearest clock, Ruby saw that he was right and the girl nearly squawked and practically inhaled her food. And when she nearly choked on a piece or two, her sister wasted no time striking her on the back hard to help it go down.

Somewhat thankful for the assist – "Your back pats really hurt, Yang!" "Heh, sorry!" – Ruby then took charge like the leader she wanted to be and swiftly herded her team out of the cafeteria and towards their next class.

But not before bidding team JNPR a hasty goodbye and promising to sit by them during combat class once more.

As she did so, Ruby eyed Jaune a little warily now.

In the short time she's known him, the two of them had certainly gotten to know one another, learning the simple things they liked and whatnot… yet the silver eyed girl couldn't help but feel that Jaune was hiding something real big from them all.

What that something could possibly be, she could only guess at.

For now, however, she just hoped that one day, they'd be good enough friends for him to finally open up about whatever he thinks of so much.

Maybe then, he'd finally be able to smile more freely.

* * *

It was with a great deal of subtlety that Blake occasionally glanced in Jaune's direction during their next class.

After everything she's been through to get to this point, she'd never really intended on getting too close to anyone much less even take any real interest in another person – Adam had just about quelled any desire she'd had of doing that.

However, despite having only been part of a team for barely a week so far, she had to say she was actually enjoying it somewhat.

Ruby with her childish but refreshing optimism.

Yang with her liveliness and good cheer, though her few and in-between puns really need some work.

Even Weiss, whom she'd instantly disliked due to being a Schnee, was amusing with how badly her expectations of being a Beacon student were being forcefully brought down by the other two.

But if Blake had to admit just one thing, it'd be that Jaune Arc held her interest the most as of now. He was quite an enigma in the same vein that she was unintentionally being with her team, only more so.

He was a rather awkward person in conversation though he'd sometimes have moments of naturally joining in as if he was just like any other average teen. But then there was him having noticed her still being awake the night before initiation followed by having seen her Faunus traits, which he didn't care about. He'd even been perceptive enough to realize her general goal and wish her luck.

Yes, he certainly was interesting enough with just that alone, especially with how intense his very presence was.

But what really had her trying to peek at him every so often right now was what she and the others had come to learn of him over the past week.

Like the others had pointed out during lunch just a while ago, Jaune had something of a hero streak in him… and it hadn't been limited to just the custodians and other faculty workers. Though the rest of her team didn't seem aware of it just yet, she's heard of and even seen him help out other students every now and then.

And by 'help,' she didn't simply mean holding open doors for them or whatever, but actually talking with them, offering some brief and quiet advice and lending his aid whenever they needed it for any reason. She's even seen him pay a considerable amount of attention to some Faunus students whenever human ones shot them nasty looks or uttered some equally disgusting comments.

That he seemed to be strongly pro-Faunus was something she could admire, but at the same time, made her a little wary in a way.

His heroism, if it could be called that right now, was admirable, but Blake's time facing discrimination both before and after joining the White Fang left her rather jaded on such a subject. 'Heroes' didn't do anything for free no matter how much others liked to play them up – they always had some inherently selfish reason to start with.

The question she was now faced with, however, was what was Jaune's reason? Did he help others because he felt guilty for something? Was he gaining something out of it that she couldn't tell?

She just couldn't tell. He was either too simple a person for her to see the obvious or had motives so complex that she couldn't figure it out just yet.

A part of her felt bad for doubting him – all things considered so far, he did seem like an inherently good person, but she really just felt something was a little off with him.

If nothing else, it was odd how he operated. No matter how quick he was to rush to the defense of others, no matter how intensely he stood up for them, not once did he exhibit any anger at the discrimination itself nor did he ever seem particularly satisfied with his efforts.

It was almost as if he was doing everything on autopilot or something.

Even now, as the professor continued her lecture, Jaune merely sat where he was, taking no notes but instead just listening intently. He looked more like a android than an actual person with how mechanically he seemed to function.

Then, suddenly, his stare flickered from the professor to her and Blake uncharacteristically turned away from him as though guilty of some horrible crime.

She took this time to pretend to take some more notes, trying to slow her suddenly beating heart at how much pressure seemed to be directed her way now.

It lasted only a second or two at the most, but to her it felt as though it'd been an hour or two. She exhaled quietly in relief when the pressure let up and Jaune turned his attention back to the professor.

That'd been a little close. Just because she was interested in seeing what made him tick didn't mean she was eager to actually confront him about it or anything. After all, interested or not, she still had her own goals to focus on.

Though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious if he'd be willing to help her out sometime.

* * *

It was now the final class of the day, that being combat class. And as was usual, pretty much everyone eagerly looked forward to it. Even if they weren't called on to spar at some point, the fights themselves provided some nice entertainment if nothing else.

Jaune, however, didn't share the sentiment.

Battle was never something he really enjoyed. Competition with others over anything was honestly rather dumb to him. Certainly, it helped to improve themselves, hence the usefulness of sparring, but obsessing over winning or having a good time during it was counter-productive in all sorts of ways, robbing them of what they should truly be focusing on:

Defeating 'evil.' Helping others.

He closed his eyes for a split second after sitting down in stands and took a deep breath.

Right, right. He'd called home that first day, after classes had finished, just like he'd sworn to himself to do. And his parents had once more reminded him of his goal here, well, one of his goals, really.

Alas, achieving such a goal was much easier said than done. But for the sake of his family, he'll try. However, he'll still prioritize on his own goal first.

Seeing as he'll be here for four years, he should hopefully have plenty of time to do so. That said, he sure as hell hoped it wouldn't actually take that long to achieve it.

"Think you'll be called on today?" Pyrrha suddenly asked him as she sat by his side. Nora and Ren followed just seconds afterwards.

Jaune shrugged as he focused his attention on the redhead. "Maybe. Either way, it is what it is."

By this point, team RWBY arrived along with the few remaining teams and sat near them. And apparently they'd overheard Pyrrha's question and his answer somehow.

"Ah come on, Jaune," Yang began. "Not looking forward to some fun?"

Yang had already been called up during the first week and she'd most certainly enjoyed her time in the arena below, both the spar itself and when she'd won.

While he'd never condemn such behavior, it was again not something he'd condone either.

He shook his head. "Not really. Sparring isn't really something I enjoy."

"Really?" Pyrrha sounded genuinely surprised. "But competition is meant to be a good thing, Jaune. It helps us improve."

"The only competition I'm interested in is the one against myself," he said without hesitation. "It's one's own limits that one should be striving to triumph over. The competition you and the others think of is trying to beat someone else. And if you'll forgive my bluntness, I couldn't care less about that."

As was becoming common, his team and team RWBY were left silent in the wake of his answer.

"Whoa…" Nora said, breaking the silence between them. "That's pretty profound! But! Nothing wrong with wanting to break some bones, right?!" She said this with a hearty laugh that had some other people nearby hastily shuffling away from her.

Jaune smirked slightly, bemused. "If that's what excites you, I can't tell you otherwise."

"Hmm, still…" Weiss now spoke up, looking thoughtful. "What you just said… it's worth noting."

Ah, he could imagine why. Given the kind of person she seemed to be, Weiss was the type that felt she had to be better than others. Whether that was because she felt she had to live up to her own expectations or that of others was unknown to him, but it seemed his words had helped her just now.

"But there's also nothing wrong with wanting to show our stuff, right?" Ruby then said with a smile. "After all, there's nothing more awesome than two warriors clashing, exchanging blow after blow before eventually ending up in mutual defeat and renewed respect-!"

"Hey, easy there, Rubes," Yang interrupted teasingly. "This isn't like those martial arts movies you watch."

"She's not entirely wrong, however," Ren suddenly chipped in. "Competition can help build healthy relationships between individuals. And of course, it can also motivate them to improve even more."

From where she sat beside him, Pyrrha nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed! That's why competitions can be fun, Jaune."

Clearly, all that talk just now had been for his benefit, not necessarily theirs. Still, though he will admit they all had a point…

"And I understand that," he began carefully as the professor entered the arena below, the students settling in as class was about to start. "Still, it's just never been something that's excited me."

It was clear some of the others wanted to respond to his lack of enthusiasm, but by the time they looked ready to retort, class had already started.

And professor Goodwitch was nothing if not right to the point. Going over some additional tips and pointers from the last class they'd had, she wasted no time calling up students to spar.

The first week or two of combat class was said to first focus on getting every single student to engage in at least one spar, that way the professor had a rough idea of how they fought and start to pair them up later in the semester against others that were sometimes good matches for their abilities or bad matches, that way they could be made aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and learn how to adjust.

This was something Jaune silently approved of. Even if someone was, objectively speaking, more powerful and skilled than another person, the weaker individual may easily triumph over the stronger one simply due to their particular abilities or skillset being too incompatible with the other's.

For example, a powerful close range combatant may be felled effortlessly by someone who excels at long range combat or is exceptionally skilled at setting deadly traps. A jack of all trades, like his partner appeared to be, could be outdone by a true specialist in close, mid, or long-range combat, though to that same token, Pyrrha would have plenty of other options available to her in such scenarios.

Sadly, this didn't seem to be something most of the others realized. Instead, they seemed to focus more on having a good fight or being a bit too prideful in their victories right now. And so, as the spars begun and went on, several of the winners returned to the stands without having learned any real lessons and the same went for some of the losers too.

Jaune prayed that such attitudes would change later down the line, if only for their safety when finally let out into the field.

…

Time went by quickly, and he critiqued every combatant he saw, judging their strengths, their weaknesses, and planning to give them some advice later if at all possible. Sadly, he knew his future errand wouldn't go too well; not many liked being told what they'd been too sloppy about, especially if told by someone their age. This went doubly so for those that won their spars easily enough.

From beside him, he could see Pyrrha , Weiss, and Blake taking mental notes on each student, but unlike him who intended to help the others improve themselves, they clearly intended to utilize that info to help them triumph over them in spars should they ever face off.

As for the rest of his friends, they were more focused on enjoying the combat down below, though Ren was the natural exception to this, more focused on keeping Nora under control. Other than that, his fellow male was clearly trying to study them for weaknesses too in the same vein as the other three.

Inwardly, he sighed. Again, it wasn't really his place to judge them, but seeing as they all intended to become huntsmen and huntresses, shouldn't it be better to help each other improve for the greater good?

Then, as if life itself wished to mess with him, the next sparring session was announced.

"Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc," professor Goodwitch called out. "The two of you, please step up to-."

"May I face off against someone different, professor?" Jaune immediately called out to her.

 _Everyone_ turned his way. The professor locked eyes with him, confused to say the least, but her stern glare demanded an answer to her question. "And why is that, Mr. Arc?"

"Yeah, why's that? Scared to fight me?" a tall brunet – Cardin – called out from a few rows over. His very posture radiated arrogance.

Jaune shook his head in response to the latter's cocky question. "The purpose of these spars is for us to gain combat experience against a myriad of different opponents. Against those that our skillsets match up horribly against so that we learn how to adapt as needed," he replied to the professor as he calmly stood up. "And I fear that Cardin will not learn from losing to me nor I from winning against him."

Many 'Ooohs' and 'Aaaaahhs' and 'burrrnnnns!' echoed throughout the room in response to his words, confusing him.

As for Cardin, the large and brawny teen stood up, utterly pissed. "Oh, you're dead, you little shit! Professor, let me kick his ass!"

Jaune looked to the irate Cardin and then all around him at the clearly amused students in complete confusion.

It was obvious from even a glance what kind of person Cardin is – a cocky and hotheaded individual that focused more on sheer brute strength than on technique or strategy. He's met many like him before in his travels. Sparring with him would do nothing more than earn his eternal ire. Only a truly brutal experience would be able to teach one such as him the importance of expanding his horizons and that was something he couldn't provide his fellow classmate.

And he in turn wouldn't learn anything new from fighting Cardin. After all, he's fought many like him before, all of whom had been far superior to the teen currently in just about all respects.

It was therefore obvious that a spar between them would only end in one way and Jaune couldn't even remotely expect anyone else to learn anything substantial from it either.

So, it was equally obvious that for everyone's benefit, he should fight someone else… right? Right?

However, the professor didn't seem to share his unspoken sentiments here nor did any of the other students.

"While you make a point, Mr. Arc, you two are still among the few that have yet to fight at all, so it must be done. Also, how the spar between you both will go is not something that you can decide in advance without any prior reference." She glared at him as she spoke. "Now, go and change, you two. We've only so much time left until class ends. Ah, and Mr. Winchester, do watch your mouth. You're free to speak as you wish outside of class, but in here, I expect manners, understood?"

"Oh, perfectly," Cardin said with a vicious and angry grin on his face as he turned in Jaune's direction, glaring at him before walking off towards the locker room.

Jaune could only stare in mild bewilderment when the others around him looked at him and started to cheer. Apparently, his statements had been quite amusing to them.

His friends included.

"Nice one, Jaune!" Yang said, ribbing him a little. "Now hurry and go kick that prick's ass!"

"Hmph, rather arrogant of you to say such things… but I will admit you do make a point," spoke Weiss, bemused.

"Go kill him, fearless leader!" Nora exclaimed eagerly. "Break one of his legs for me!"

"Quite the challenge you've issued him, Jaune," Pyrrha said next, looking impressed for some reason.

"N-No, that's not what I-," Jaune began, wanting so badly to clear up this misunderstanding.

"Mr. Arc, do hurry and get ready," the professor interrupted before he could even continue.

"…Understood."

Letting out a quiet sigh, Jaune made his way from the stands and to the locker room, some of the other students shouting out some stock phrases of support as he left. And once he got to the locker room, it was just in time to see Cardin, having quickly changed and armed himself, walking out the exit that led to the arena.

"Don't take too long in here, Jauney boy – I want to enjoy this fight as much as I can before class ends," he growled out as he took off.

Alone, Jaune could only shake his head in sheer disbelief. This wasn't what he'd anticipated.

Alas, it'd be wrong of him to back down now that things have progressed this way. As such, all he could do was resolve to do what he could.

"…Maybe I can help him, after all…" he mumbled as he thought, opening the locker that contained his clothes and blades.

He unceremoniously changed, but as he did so, a certain look came over him.

Although resolved to see this through to the end now, he still stood by what he'd said just moments ago. Cardin was not someone who'd change his combat methods unless given substantial reason to. And again, that'd really only happen if he were to find himself in a true life or death battle, something he wouldn't wish on anyone.

But perhaps… perhaps if he forced him just hard enough… tricked him into viewing the spar as a truly dangerous situation for him, then maybe…

As he thought, Jaune's gaze sharpened.

While calling it a plan would be generous at best, he had an idea on what to do now. It was now a simple matter of executing it.

Fully changed into his combat clothes and armed, he marched forth with purpose.

Time to begin the lesson.

* * *

Glynda mentally sneered at the arrogance Cardin Winchester radiated.

Really now, it was too early in the year for this shit.

But it was hardly nothing new. Plenty of students, both past and current, were a lot like Cardin in some respects. It was only natural to desire being number one amongst their peers and with a certain level of strength and skill came great confidence, if not outright arrogance.

She'd been the same way once upon a time… at least up until her first true mission, where she'd nearly died. And thanks to her brashness back then, her teammates had been severely wounded. Though they'd thankfully pulled through in one piece, that event had been the wake up call she needed to realize how ridiculous she'd been acting.

Most of the new students were in dire need of this lesson, though she prayed it wouldn't be through the same way she'd experienced.

"He better not have run off," Cardin muttered from nearby, lazily holding his mace over his right shoulder.

Glynda tried not to roll her eyes. Yes, Cardin in particular needed that lesson.

And perhaps even one Jaune Arc as well. For although she silently agreed with his words, the matter-of-fact tone he'd spoken in had irked her somewhat. Granted, she'd no idea of his combat prowess – though Ozpin had looked impressed from whatever he'd seen during initiation – but even so, it was rather bold of him to claim victory before the battle even occurred.

In any case, he and Cardin were among the few left that have yet to fight, so might as well have this done here and now rather than let whatever animosity the latter now held for Jaune brew for any longer.

And speaking of the blond, he walked out onto the arena just now, dressed and armed.

Glynda blinked and almost unconsciously took a step back.

Back up in the stands, Jaune Arc had looked like a serious enough person, if somewhat awkward and quiet. But now, something about his very presence was different.

What she looked upon now wasn't a student, but rather a warrior, something she usually only saw amongst those her age.

His intense gaze was locked directly onto Cardin, who seemed to sense the same thing she did and took a slight step back, only to catch himself and forcefully step forward, grimacing in anger.

"Took your sweet time, Arc. Were you really getting cold feet?" Cardin called out.

The blond ignored his provocation and stood exactly ten yards away from Cardin, his posture straight, his body relaxed, but with an incredible deal of tension somehow visible all around him.

The students watching from the stands quieted down instantly as Glynda now stepped forward, looking in between the two teens.

"…Anything else to say, Mr. Arc?" she asked, somehow sensing him preparing to speak now.

He nodded and then proceeded to address Cardin. "I'll only be using one sword, Cardin. That, and perhaps my fists and legs as well. I'll make sure to call out my attacks, to give you ample time to prepare yourself…. I can only hope now that it'll be enough to help you."

The silence was absolutely deafening. Everyone was taken aback by his words, even Glynda herself.

The silence didn't last long, however as an irate Cardin bristled. "Oh, screw you! As if I'll need your advice to kick your ass!"

Jaune didn't immediately respond verbally. Instead, he took up a stance, drawing his right blade and wielding it with both hands. Cardin, still shaking with anger, took up a stance of his own, one that suited his aggressive personality.

"I'll start with an overhead swing," Jaune then said, his gaze never leaving his opponent. "Spread your legs a few more inches. Make sure to lean back when you block. Professor, we're ready."

Glynda narrowed her eyes, not in anger, but in concentration. Once again, there was no hint of arrogance in the blond teen's voice. He was dead serious.

But why act this way? For what purpose?

"…Remember," she began, pushing these questions to the back of her mind for now. "Keep track of how much aura you have. The very second either of your gauges fall to the red, I will stop this battle immediately. I will also stop it the very second I think things have escalated too far… and the offender will be punished appropriately. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

With the two teens' answers, Glynda stepped back until she was to the side and glanced up at the monitor above as their aura gauges appeared on it.

And then…

"Begin."

Cardin made the first move – or rather, he _tried to._

But Jaune was much faster.

In a veritable instant, he closed the distance between them and went for an overhead swing, every muscle in his body dedicating themselves to the action. His blue eyes practically glimmered with determination.

The way he moved, the gleam in those eyes… in the split second that Glynda took this all in, she immediately felt the urge to step in and stop him, fearing for Cardin's safety.

So did Cardin, the armored teen only barely able to guard against the strike – and by doing the very same thing Jaune had advised him to do.

Sword met mace, metal booming against metal with such force and volume that it was like hearing thunder. The arena itself seemed to rattle from the power behind the blow.

Cardin, having been unprepared for that kind of strength, could only stumble back with wide eyes full of shock, even a smidgen of horror.

Jaune began to close the distance yet again, his eyes blazing. "Guard your right," he commanded.

There was a millisecond long lag as Cardin processed that simple command before he immediately acted on it – and once more, proved to be wise in doing so. For Jaune spun and slashed with his sword, striking against Cardin's mace.

But this time, Cardin wasn't able to block fully. Having hastily tried to block with just one hand on his weapon, his mace was knocked aside and the sword grazed his side. It really only nicked his armor, but judging by the gash that appeared on it as it made contact, everyone watching would swear he took that hit head on.

It sent Cardin sprawling to the floor with a yelp and he wildly started to scramble for his mace.

"I'm going to stomp on your left hand," Jaune said, his voice ever so calm. "Move."

The very hand that had reached out for the mace immediately retreated just in time to avoid being crushed, Jaune's boot smashing into the floor with terrifying force. Aura or not, that would've crushed bones with ease.

"Going to swipe outwards… roll!" Jaune didn't even give Cardin a full millisecond to do so, already swiping to his side with just one hand on his sword.

Cardin did manage to roll, however, but the strength behind the swing was great enough for the resulting air pressure to send him flying.

He smashed into the nearby wall, his aura gauge dipping from the impact.

Glynda, utterly speechless, could only watch as Cardin recovered and stood, just in time for Jaune to lightly kick the mace back to him.

She watched as the brunet caught the weapon with a stupefied and terrified expression on his face. And this time, when he backed up, he didn't try to take any steps forward.

"Your back is to the wall now," Jaune called out as he approached. "What'll you do, Cardin? Charge at me? Wait for me to attack then deflect it at the last possible second? Dodge outright?"

Jaune's pace picked up while Cardin started to move to his left, trying to get away from the wall. "…I'm going to throw my sword, then hit you with a left cross."

He then threw his sword with great ferocity, the blade little more than a wisp of light as it flew towards Cardin.

The teen in question tilted to the side to avoid being struck then tried to outright jump further to the side, but by the time he did that, Jaune was already up in his face, left fist cocked.

Rather than try to block or dodge, Cardin let out a battle cry and tried to attack, hoping to hit him before he got hit. He swung his mace with both hands, his muscle bulging from under his armor as he put his all into it…

Only for Jaune to reach out with his right and stop the attack by grabbing onto the mace's hilt. Then he pulled on it, bringing Cardin ever closer and struck him with a left cross.

Jaune let out a loud grunt as he did so, his very form seemingly glowing as he did so, a possible sign of how much strength he was using.

The sound the blow made on impact was great enough to make even Glynda wince as Cardin smashed into the floor and literally bounced off it like some kind of human ball. His aura dropped well into the yellow, the few blows Jaune had unleashed having been so strong that even when blocked or narrowly avoided, Cardin's aura had suffered for it.

More over and much to Glynda's amazement, when Cardin slowly got up, it was with a quickly forming bruise on the side of his face now.

Aura was something akin to a cushion, able to hamper any and all incoming damage enough to avoid injury for the most part, even lessen how much pain one would normally take. But like any actual cushion, aura had clear and defined limits. It could only cushion so much force.

So for Jaune's punch to deal a bruise even though Cardin obviously had his aura up…

Up above, some of the students gasped and whispered as they saw this.

By all rights, Glynda really should step in now, stop the spar before it continued. But for some reason, she remained rooted to where she stood.

And so, all of them merely watched as Jaune calmly picked up his thrown sword and walked up to Cardin as the teen took up a hesitant stance.

What followed next was now obvious to them all.

"Diagonal slash to your leg. Deflect it."

"Upwards swing to your chin. Tilt your head back."

"Spin kick to the midsection. Guard."

"Elbow strike to the face. Intercept it."

And on and on Jaune went, uttering what attack he'd unleash next and how to react to it. Minutes stretched on as he simply kept on going, always attacking while Cardin remained constantly on the defensive.

At some point, Jaune stopped providing his opponent any time to comprehend his advice and prepare accordingly. And not long after that, he stopped providing advice outright.

He attacked with his sword, then with his fists over this brief period of time. Cardin was forced to be ready each and every time for the unrelenting force behind each blow, which rattled his bones whenever he had no other choice but to block them head-on.

And to everyone's amazement, especially Glynda's, Cardin started to improve noticeably, his form becoming more sure of itself every time he was able to semi-successfully avoid being struck directly. Though still slow and sloppy overall, it was already a far cry from how he was in the beginning.

But as good as he was becoming – forced into becoming – his expression was still one of frantic terror, the brunet no doubt believing himself to be in genuine danger as Jaune's assault continued. The nicks and scratches on his mace and armor didn't help at putting him at ease nor did the bruises all over keep him from wincing in pain every now and then.

Then, as suddenly as this all had begun, it came to a stop.

Striking with one final overhead swing that was blocked, Jaune promptly kicked Cardin hard in the gut, dropping his aura dangerously low into the red zone as he went tumbling onto his rear.

Cardin could only sit there as Jaune rested his blade right over his shoulder. With how low his aura now was, it'd be so very easy for the blond to cut into him for real this time. So, naturally, he froze in place.

And Jaune merely looked down on him, literally, that is, his blue eyes boring into his very being it seemed like.

"I believe that's the match… right, professor?" he said a few seconds later as everyone seemed to come out of the trance they'd ended up in.

"Yes," Glynda replied after a second's delay. "I believe it is."

Nodding, Jaune sheathed his sword and then, much to everyone's surprise, held out a hand to Cardin, who stared at it as though it wasn't real. But after a moment, the burly teen reluctantly accepted it and was helped back onto his feet with ease by the blond teen.

"I hope I was able to help, Cardin…," Jaune murmured quietly, though everyone heard thanks to how silent they all were. "…And that, should you so desire it, we'll be able to get along from now on. You've the potential to be a great huntsman… and I'd like to help you achieve that potential, just as I want to help everyone else too."

Cardin, on his part, could only gape, unable to so much as sputter out a single word, not even make a single sound.

Not that Jaune waited for a reply, for he began to walk off back to the locker room to change, but not before nodding respectfully to a still stunned Glynda.

And as Jaune left the arena, the bell signaling the end of the class rang out, startling them all. It would take them all a few minutes before finally finding it in themselves to leave, talking quietly amongst themselves over what had happened.

While Cardin's teammates came down to help him to the locker room and then to the infirmary to get his bruises looked at, Glynda watched as Jaune Arc emerged, dressed in his uniform and strolled over to where his team as well as team RWBY were waiting for him.

She eyed the blond teen with a whole new perspective in mind.

Looks like there truly was more to him than what meets the eye.

* * *

 **So, as can be clearly seen, Jaune is definitely no pushover, ha ha. That said, wouldn't quite say he's outright OP, at least not in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, compared to other students, he's strong, but not completely unstoppable. Future chapters will show him struggling against certain other characters, and struggle greatly at that too.**

 **Also, expect future action scenes to be equally more epic. What was seen in this chapter is yet another small little taste of what to expect. Once Jaune really gets going is when the action gets a bit more… well, absurd, I suppose would be the appropriate word, though maybe not in the way you guys may be expecting now.**

 **In any case, to sum this all up, Jaune's nowhere near his full potential just yet. And he'll have plenty of challenge to help stimulate his growth… both in power and as a character. Hope you'll look forward to it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	5. Chapter 5

So, was watching Jacksepticeye's Let's Play of the RE2 remake and I had a sudden thought: what would happen if you tried shooting at the zombies' arms or lower jaw? Would they be blown off without the zombies actually dying from the shots? If so, would it affect their ability to attack the player? Seeing as their attack animations are entirely reliant on them grabbing you and biting, I just have to question if the developers planned for such a possibility. Can anyone confirm what does happen if this is the case? Again, just suddenly had this thought and now I'm terribly curious.

Would do it myself, but I don't have a PS4 or Xbox1 sadly, heh. Had considered buying a PS4 but am holding off until DMC5 comes out before truly questioning if I should. I say 'should' because well, between my job, reading new novels, writing this fic and my novel, and playing FGO, amongst other personal obligations, I don't quite have as much time as I'd prefer to sit down and play consoles anymore, though I sure as hell miss doing so. But yeah, really considering changing that just for DMC5, ha ha.

Anyways, onto the chapter!

Chapter 5

Weiss wasn't one to be easily impressed, in part due to a veritable lifetime of people trying to worm their way into her family's good graces through a number of means. And as one who trained rigorously in order to earn her father's permission just to even apply to Beacon, this difficulty in being impressed started to apply to her fellow trainees here.

And when one Jaune Arc had spoken so openly, even brazenly, about not wishing to fight the arrogant Cardin, she'd definitely not been too amused by his attitude, though his unintended putdown of Cardin's lack of ability had been something to inwardly chuckle over.

However, what had followed after that, when Jaune had decimated Cardin while giving him advice the entire time, she'd been struck completely silent, just as everyone else had been. And so, for what felt like the tenth time thus far, she'd had to change her opinion about him.

She'll say without any shame that her initial impression of the blond teen hadn't been too kind, what with how he'd reeked of sweat and had brushed off Pyrrha's and her status. It hadn't helped that he'd first prevented that little Dust mishap before even that and though she'll admit that she had been at fault, no one much less her liked having such mistakes pointed out.

In addition to that, his lack of any visible notetaking throughout classes so far hadn't exactly wowed her in regards to his dedication. Plus, he was somewhat awkward during conversations sometimes, making it hard to even consider having a proper talk with him.

However, he'd made a few very poignant statements in the brief time she's been in contact with him, hinting at a certain wisdom that she found herself admiring almost.

And now… now, without a doubt, she and the rest of the class knew that his words from before the spar hadn't been some boast but instead a statement of fact, nothing more or less. That he'd so thoroughly won while clearly handicapping himself by using just one of his swords only made his victory that much more amazing.

And for the past few days, his 'fight' with Cardin had been a hot topic among the students of Beacon, if only due to the behavior Jaune had demonstrated during the fight.

After all, to give one's own opponent advice and to even make the whole point of the spar focused on helping them improve… it certainly wasn't something Weiss had seen before.

Everything she's ever learned to do, be it in the form of academics or combat, it had been through numerous tutors that always praised her no matter how good or bad she'd done, or it'd been her sister, who'd made sure to harshly pound into her several valuable lessons about being on a battlefield.

And one of these lessons had been to never trust anything the enemy may do, for it could merely be a smokescreen, something to cover up a much more sinister action behind the scene. This was a lesson she'd intended to carry over to any and every spar she took part in during Beacon.

All for the sake of her own growth and more importantly, for the sake of ensuring victory.

Yet, Jaune had gone against this lesson she'd learned. What she and the others had seen had been exactly what they'd got. He'd fought not for his victory over Cardin but for Cardin's improvement.

It simply boggled her mind and made her ask questions… but not about herself. Rather, she was asking herself questions about the blond who'd led her onto this path so abruptly.

Just who exactly was Jaune Arc? For what purpose did he do what he does? He's gone out of his way to help numerous members of Beacon's faculty and after the spar with Cardin, once her teammates as well as Jaune's own had stopped questioning him about his performance, he'd actually stopped a few of the people that had also sparred that day to offer them some advice too, something that had thoroughly bewildered everyone even more than they'd already been.

It truly was a selfless thing to do.

But that's the thing – it was too selfless.

Again, she asked silently, just what does he gain out of all this?

So utterly perplexed, she even paused during her notetaking just now to even outright glare at the blond teen, who sat just a row ahead of her. Sure enough, as professor Port spoke on and on about his escapades from long ago, Jaune sat there, upright and listening intently to what the man had to say.

Inwardly, she could only sigh.

She could ask herself such questions all she wanted, but she knew she wouldn't get anywhere doing such a thing. Not like Jaune had been too forthcoming with answers to such questions anyways when they'd been asked by the others these past few days. Weiss highly doubted she'd get true answers if she did bother asking him; not like the two of them were closer than the others, though she was now completely certain that Jaune couldn't care any less about how well anyone knew him or vice versa.

Oh well, if nothing else, that spar had sparked a definitive change in Cardin. Though still boisterous and quick to anger, he didn't quite fly off the handle as often as he did during the first week of class nor had he bothered to engage in any of the pathetic bullying antics he'd clearly enjoyed doing during the first week too. Indeed, whenever he wasn't chatting with his teammates, he seemed almost contemplative, a welcome change from before.

It was also especially amusing how he made a genuine effort to avoid being around whenever Jaune walked by, clearly fearful of the blond even when said blond had even called out to him politely once or twice since their spar.

Alas, as terribly interesting as this all was to dwell on, Weiss knew she couldn't afford to dwell on it for too long nor too intently.

For at the end of the day, she still had herself and her team to think of. And although she'll admit that Jaune made some good points about what competition and the like, she still wasn't one to merely settle for second best.

Just because he spouted some truly profound things didn't mean she herself was going to suddenly turn over a new leaf.

Besides, the Vytal Festival would be held here in Vale and although that was still a long time off, preparing for it this early wouldn't hurt.

So, with a light huff, she took up her pen and renewed her notetaking… all while making sure ignore the more audacious feats the professor claimed to have performed.

Surely, he must be embellishing… right?

* * *

The rest of the day comes and goes at a brisk enough pace, something Pyrrha was grateful for. And something she'd been even more grateful for was the lack of loud whispering being done around her about her status, at least when compared to before.

And she had her partner/leader to thank for that.

Speaking of which…

"Care for a bite, Jaune?" she asked him.

He shook his head gently. "No, it's fine. Thank you though."

It's been a few days since his spar with Cardin, meaning it was now the end of the week and leaving them free for the weekend. And Nora, ever the adventurous one, had managed to rope them all into heading into Vale for dinner somewhere.

Having found a nice little seafood place with lobster tail that was to die for, team JNPR had quickly gotten comfortable, Nora more so than the rest of them, gobbling down food like it was going out of style. As for Ren, he sat by his longtime friend, patiently holding a water in hand for when Nora inevitably bit off more than she could literally chew.

This was the first time she's ever gone out with anyone she dared to call friends and so she's made it clear she'll be footing the bill, something that had made Jaune look a little uncomfortable but she'd made sure to make it clear that it wasn't a problem for her – being a champion with multiple sponsorships came with its financial benefits.

That said, wow, the amount of food Nora was putting away was really frightening. Just where did it all go?

That aside, though…

"You sure? I don't mind sharing, Jaune." Seated next to the blond, Pyrrha had been hoping for the umpteenth time to truly get to know him and the others better since most of the time spent during these first two weeks at Beacon had been simply getting organized in their dorm and adapting to the class schedule and the like.

Plus, with how much gossip was now stirring about her teammate and leader, having some time in a nice and friendly place to talk had been an all but impossible thing to get.

Until now.

He gently waved her off. "It's okay. I'm good with what I have," he said kindly, taking some small bites of his own plate, something she'd already forgotten the official name of, but had plenty of fish involved.

She frowned, though she did her best to keep it hidden. This wasn't quite going as intended so far, even if it's only been a short while since they got here and ordered.

She truly wished to know more about him and Ren and Nora, but asking them outright seemed oddly rude to her, plus her time as a celebrity in Mistral had sort of conditioned her to acting certain ways in public, something she'd been learning to fight against now that she was in Vale.

"W-Well then," she began. "Before we continue our meal, how about a toast? A toast to us making it through the first two weeks?" Pyrrha sounded a bit unsure there, hence why it came out as a question rather than a statement like she'd intended.

However, it still had the desired effect.

"Oooh, let's do it!"

Ah, thank God for Nora, she thought as the auburn-haired girl hefted up her large glass of soda, her eyes gleaming.

Ren smiled lightly and Jaune blinked once or twice before smiling as well and lifting up his own drink.

"Cheers!" the four of them said after holding their glasses up in unison and clinking them together, Nora doing so with a bit more force than was needed. Thankfully nothing spilled and they all took a drink.

"Uh!" Nora had an expression of mild disgust on her face after taking a large gulp. "Renny, did you really bring your health shake?!"

"It's healthy," he stated with a hint of defensiveness to his normally calm voice. "And tasty, I'll have you know."

Nora's expression begged to differ. "I'll stick with soda, thanks. Way better than that thing!"

Ren now looked mildly annoyed but sighed, not bothering to argue any further. Clearly this wasn't the first time they've had such a conversation, Pyrrha silently noted, especially since the two of them sported silly little grins on their face, Nora again more so than Ren.

"Health shake?" Jaune spoke up, sounding intrigued. "What exactly is in it?"

Ren turned to their leader, his own pink eyes a lit ever so slightly with joy. "Oh, you know," he began, trying to sound totally casual. "Just some herbs and vegetables, nothing too out of the ordinary."

"Meant to improve bodily functions, right?"

"Correct."

"…Would it be alright if I have a taste?"

Ren thrust the drink over to Jaune so quickly that Pyrrha half-expected it to spill right out of the cup, such was Ren's excitement. Accepting it politely, Jaune took a brief sip of it and blinked slowly a second later.

"What do you think?" asked a quiet but hopeful Ren.

"I like it," Jaune said with a small smile as he handed it back to him. "Uhm, if it's not too much a bother, think I can have it sometime in the fut-?"

"Whenever you desire," Ren answered before Jaune even finished, the normally calm and almost sloth-like teen looking more excited and emotive than Pyrrha has ever seen him be so far. He then turned to her. "How about you, Pyrrha?"

He held the cup towards her, allowing her to get a good look at the dark green and almost bulbous liquid it seemed to be. The color combined with the smell she was getting from it now that it was this close to her was almost enough to make her pale and gag.

"A-Ah, no, I'm fine," she answered sheepishly.

"Mhm, a wise one, you are," Nora said in a comically serious tone. Ren shot her a mildly offended look, but gracefully accepted Pyrrha's refusal and kept the drink to himself.

"At least Jaune has been enlightened…" he murmured almost childishly.

The almost sulking tone in which he spoke was enough to make Pyrrha giggle a little bit and Nora to outright bark with some laugh. Even Jaune, normally so serious, seemed entertained.

The four of them dug into their meal some more, enjoying the large portions that it provided. And as they did so, some small talk naturally began at some point, casual and enjoyable.

This combined with the previous scene was enough to relax Pyrrha enough to finally ask what she'd been meaning to know.

"So," she began. "Now that I think of it, we… we really don't know too much about one another, do we? Think we should clear the air on that, yes?"

Okay, she thought, that hadn't quite been said how she'd wanted to say – a bit too direct for her liking and inwardly, the feeling of relaxation was replaced with something akin to panic.

Thankfully, none of her friends seemed to take any offense.

"Yeah, yeah!" Nora eagerly agreed. She all but stood up and pointed a finger at her. "Pyrrha! What are your three sizes?!"

Having been about to take another bite of her food, Pyrrha nearly ended up choking. "E-Excuse me?!" she sputtered in a shrill voice.

Nora just laughed. "Ha ha, sorry, my bad, my bad~." She grinned cheekily. "Just wanted to see how you'd react."

Then Nora rounded onto Jaune. "But yeesh, shouldn't you be the one to kick this off, oh fearless leader? You're the leader, after all."

Jaune paused, looking so utterly stumped that it became hard for Pyrrha to reconcile his current look with that of the intense and outright dominant appearance he had during initiation as well as his spar with Cardin.

"That's… an excellent point," he muttered, looking towards the ceiling in thought before bowing his head. "Sorry."

The seriousness with which he said that was enough to make Pyrrha feel awkward.

But not Nora or even Ren.

"Bah, stop being so uptight!" Nora said with a little laugh. "Ren already fills that niche!"

"I prefer the term 'calm,' thank you very much," Ren drawled in his own defense.

Their words were enough to make Jaune pause yet again, then nod slowly. Once again, he had the look of someone who'd just been enlightened, something that only had Pyrrha wanting to question so very much.

Her partner really was an enigma and it was really starting to eat away at her.

But hopefully, this afternoon would mark a change in all this.

And so it began, a round of generic questions for every one of them, questions such as what their favorite color was, when their birthdays were and where they grew up and so on.

The longer it went on, the more Pyrrha couldn't help but feel as if she'd been whining over nothing.

From the little info given thus far, it became clear to her that Nora had once been an orphan girl that had to scrap by just for food before Ren and his parents had entered her life… only for Ren himself to be orphaned not too long after they'd met, sticking together because they'd been the only ones they could rely on until joining Beacon.

As for her partner, he'd lived in a fairly simple town not too far outside of Vale, close enough to still afford some measure of protection from Grimm and enjoy some of the more common luxuries she was aware of, such as comics, movies and even video games. However, that didn't mean they'd been completely unbothered by the Grimm or occasional bandits… and it'd been around that particular bit that Jaune had clammed up a little more than usual.

She could only gulp quietly when he'd stopped talking at that part, the blond having paused to trace the scar on his face.

That must have been when he got it… and judging by what he's revealed so far, it seemed like he'd been particularly young when it had happened.

To think this whole time, her only real woes aside from the usual teen angst had simply been the troubles of her fame. She knew intellectually that such a 'don't be sad, others have it worse' mentality was extremely faulty, but that knowledge sure wasn't stopping her from feeling that way right now anyways.

"I… I'm sorry," she said quietly, the remnants of her food having gone cold as she'd gone without a bite this whole time.

An awkward silence was born between them all and it was almost enough to make her slink down in the booth, only for Jaune to be the one to break it.

"No need to apologize, Pyrrha – you couldn't have possibly known about any of this," he began, looking to her softly. "Life is… well, it's life. It's full of twists and turns and doesn't always play fair. It simply is what it is and it's up to people to decide how they react to things. Some break down from the tragedy life heaps on them, others don't. Some go through trials and tribulations that not even others in their same situation go through or vice versa. But that all said, just because there are those who don't go through the same things as others doesn't mean their own struggles, however they choose to define it, are any less valid."

He then motioned to Ren and Nora, his soft smile now looking a bit humorous. "For example, I bet Nora here would be the only one of us to consider it a true tragedy if syrup suddenly stopped existing."

Nora, having been caught up listening to Jaune's words so far in silence, gasped comically. "No, don't even joke about such a terrifying thing!" She made a dramatic show of gripping Ren's arm tightly. "Did you hear that Ren?! Jaune would wish such horrors upon me!"

Ren quietly chuckled. "Perhaps such a 'tragedy' would be exactly what you need to eat a little healthier in the morning."

"Traitor!"

Pyrrha giggled slightly at first, but then devolved into a brief fit of laughter. "I… yes, you're right, Jaune. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome," he said, nodding. "Though I have to say, figuring out all that just from relatively minor details like where we lived and family details… your intelligence is only outdone by your combat prowess."

The redhead blushed a bit. "T-Thank you…"

Nora, always so quick to change her temperament, looked at her and grinned slyly. Pyrrha looked back and glared childishly, knowing her fellow female well enough to guess that she was just waiting to tease her.

Nora, still latching onto Ren, merely huffed in good humor and backed down, allowing Pyrrha to focus back on Jaune.

"Umm, but that all said, I do hope your family was alright in the end." She then turned to Ren and Nora. "And I also hope the two of you were okay this time… sorry if I brought up any bad memories."

"It's fine. As Jaune said a moment ago, life is what it is," Ren began. "It can be full of sadness and hardships… but it can also be full of joy and wonder. Besides, Nora and I have each other… and now we have you and Jaune."

Jaune nodded in agreement. "Likewise. Though we've only known each other for barely two weeks, I do wish we can all rely on one another… and that you three in turn will rely on me."

Ren gracefully accepted. "Thank you." Then yet another one of those small smiles of his appeared on his face. "Just know you can't rely on Nora when she's on a sugar rush."

Jaune chuckled and from where she sat, Pyrrha giggled. "I think we already know that."

"Why so many jokes about me?!" Nora whined dramatically.

"I think it's because you're just a convenient target," Pyrrha answered with a slight grin.

"Bah, you're all just jealous of my awesomeness!" Nora huffed.

"…Heh."

Pyrrha along with the R and N of their team turned to Jaune when he chuckled just now. Him chuckling by this point wasn't anything new, but it was the almost wistful way in which he'd done so that got their attention.

Immediately noticing all eyes on him, he scratched the side of his face sheepishly. "Ah, it's just that this kind of reminds me of back then, when I still lived with my family. My sisters and I were always joking around with one another… whenever they weren't making me into their little helper…" At this memory, a rather forlorn expression overcame Jaune, but there was also a hint of exasperation in his features too. Evidently, he was remembering something embarrassing.

Rather than press him about his forlornness, not wanting to make the conversation too awkward and serious again, Pyrrha chose to ask him something else. "Ah, come to think of it, you've referenced your sisters here and now before… just how many do you have?"

Probably two, Pyrrha silently reasoned.

"Seven," he said casually.

Her mind promptly shutdown and rebooted a few times.

"S-Seven?!" she stuttered out.

Oh my… that was… quite a few more than she'd been expecting.

So, wait, if he has seven sisters, then with him that naturally makes _eight_ children…. O-oh wow…

Her surprise over this (minor) revelation was internalized.

Nora's, however… not so much.

"SEVEN?!" she shouted, mouth agape. Other patrons at the restaurant nearly leapt out of their seats from how sudden and loud she was, but she paid no mind. "Your parents must have been in bed twenty-four seven to have had them plus you!"

Normally, by this point, Ren would've tried to keep Nora a little quiet, but the boy was looking a little shocked himself by that number.

Jaune, for his part, merely smiled in mild embarrassment. "Yes, my parents… even now, they're rather 'enthusiastic.' And they want just as many grandchildren from all of us too…"

He drifted off at that, looking genuinely troubled by something.

His state truly was something to comment on, what with how suddenly he seemed to switch between calm and mild to sullen and dead serious.

However, Pyrrha's brain still refused to work properly for her to really notice this.

"E-Eight children… doing it just once doesn't necessarily result in pregnancy…" she muttered under her breath to no one but herself. "S-S-So, for them to have eight… just how 'active' are they…?!"

Her thoughts were drifting towards a territory not normally meant for such pure hearted people.

It would take her quite a while before snapping herself out of these thoughts. Even then, for the rest of the night, she had a hard time looking into Jaune's eyes.

* * *

Dinner came and went over the course of a few hours. Such was how invested team JNPR had been in simply talking with one another.

Despite the awkward start to it all and how the conversation would sometimes get far too serious, Jaune could readily say that he enjoyed it.

All things considered, it was… well, it was really relaxing, actually. Calming. It was normal.

Exactly as his parents would've wanted.

"Though I still have a long way to go on that front…" he mumbled.

"Hmm? Something the matter, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from beside him as he and his team made their way out of the restaurant and to the bullhead docks.

"Ah, no, just talking to myself. Ignore me."

Pyrrha glanced at him momentarily with mild interest – only to suddenly turn a little red in the face and hastily look away.

Jaune glanced at her, confused. Was she feeling sick? He was painfully tempted to ask her if this was the case, but refrained in the end, though just barely.

After all, now of all times wasn't exactly a good time to be acting as he normally did.

It'd make his family sad if they somehow learned of this… not that his general disposition didn't make them sad enough as it is.

Alas, he couldn't help it. Ever since that day, his top priority in life had been to help people, to smite 'evil.' Although this in and of itself wasn't something his family was against, it was the sheer lengths he went to in order to help, the dangers he so willingly threw himself against in order to eliminate threats that had them so worried for him all the time.

More than once, they've tried to make him change his ways, but doing such was all but impossible – getting him to stop with such actions would be like telling him to live a hundred years without eating, drinking, or even _breathing_. Such was the unfathomable intensity of his urges to help others and destroy 'evil.'

To call said urges all-consuming was honestly an understatement. Suppressing or ignoring it simply wasn't possible for him, hence why he was always helping someone.

Of course, this meant that he had little in the ways of freedom outside of his self-imposed tasks, and by all rights, he really should be upset over this… but the thing too is that ever since that day, his own sense of priorities had been horribly altered to a similarly ridiculous degree.

Don't get him wrong, it was rather saddening how little like a 'normal' person he was, with many of his former hobbies and interests no longer holding much meaning to him, but at the same time, his own warped mentality meant he didn't really regret the change he's gone through all that much.

That said, he knew logically that his family had a good point. For all the strength and experience he's gained over the years, for all the people he's helped, he was only one person with his own life. To so completely ignore himself in favor of everyone else was a truly horrific thing to do.

And so, he'd promised them to attempt one thing in particular: to help himself. To learn, if only slightly, how to be like everyone else.

To go and hang out with others.

To kick back and relax by himself reading a book or playing a video game or taking a damn cat nap.

To have relationships, perhaps even fall in love and eventually have a family of his own.

In other words, learn just how to enjoy life for what it was.

Sadly, this was proving to be a lot harder than it should be. Even though he remembered with great detail all of the things he used to do as a kid, even though he's seen for himself what others his age and older do to just unwind, doing it himself now was unnaturally tough. It was as if his very soul refused to commit to the action.

And he knew exactly why.

Once again, he was placing his own urges and his other priority above that of his family's wishes. His desire to find a true purpose to concentrate all his energies on was honestly taking up too much of his efforts, funnily enough.

Or maybe not so funny.

Subtly, he eyed his teammates/friends, watching how Nora was dragging along Ren while Pyrrha tried to get the girl to calm down a bit lest she really yank his arm out of its socket.

With the attention off him, Jaune grimaced.

Merely by looking at them, the urge to protect them, even outright shelter them while he did all the work, was rising up within him. This was something he fought down as harshly as he could. As they and team RWBY have pointed out last week, they all came to Beacon well aware of the personal risks to them and were nonetheless eager to meet the challenge anyways. To try and protect them as though they were defenseless would be the same as spitting on their aspirations and efforts and that wouldn't do, not at all.

Same thing went for everyone else at Beacon, really, but he was having a hard time reconciling this fact of life with his mentality.

"I really need to get my act together," he mumbled, the gentle breeze of the cool night air carrying his words away it seemed like.

This right here was his real problem. His urges were such that he was focusing on helping everyone all the damn time, his own mind and very soul trying to pull him in so many different directions simultaneously that it wasn't even remotely funny.

Hence his personal desire to find a way to consolidate things. If he could just find a singular thing to fully focus on, to wholeheartedly dedicate himself to, perhaps he won't be acting like such a scatter-brained idiot.

Easier said than done, sure, especially with how many people needed help every moment of every day, but even he knew that if this kept up, he was going to burn himself out and die before he probably even turns 30.

Nonetheless, he almost relished the challenge, for it was something he wasn't simply doing for others, but rather for himself too, a first in a long time.

Yes, that's right – he was going to help himself. Maybe not in the same way his family would prefer, but it'd be a step in that general direction, so that counts a lot.

Still…

"Is there even anything out there I can truly focus on?" he whispered aloud, pausing for just a minute in his walking to look up at the broken moon in the sky.

Naturally, looking at the moon provided no answers to his question, not that he'd been expecting any. Would've been pretty comical if it somehow did, though.

If nothing else, the breeze sure did feel good. He could bring himself to enjoy that much in this moment.

"Jaune! Come on! The last bullhead will be leaving soon!" Pyrrha called out from afar. She, Nora, and Ren, had gotten rather far ahead during the moment he'd stopped, it seemed.

"Right!" he answered and jogged lightly after them, the three waiting for him to catch up.

"…Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as he caught up, her and the others now jogging along at a brisk pace in order to make it to the bullhead. His expression must have been rather serious just now, yet another thing he really needed to work on.

"Yeah," he answered, his expression softening a little. "Just got caught up in my own thoughts again, is all. Sorry for worrying you."

Pyrrha shook her head. "We're partners… and friends. If you ever need any help, you can always rely on me or the others, okay?"

The words she spoke were simple but oh so heartfelt… and they were words he'd never really heard before, so used to doing things on his own out in the frontier. It was almost enough to make him trip over his own damned feet.

But he was able to keep himself from doing so and instead smiled genuinely. "Thank you. That means a lot."

A lot more than she and the others will ever realize, Jaune pondered to himself.

He found himself enjoying the run back to the bullhead after that. Not because of any training benefit it may have provided him, however small…. But rather, because he was finding himself enjoying this time spent with his friends.

Maybe his promise to his family wouldn't be as difficult to fulfill, after all.

* * *

Roman Torchwick let out a long sigh after taking a drag of his cigar. It always hit the spot.

And now more than ever, he sure needed it.

The past few weeks have been a real pain in his ass, so just being able to kick back for a solid hour or two, puffing away on his cigars really helped with calming him.

Especially since, once his little self-given break was up, it was back to the drawing boards. Yaaaayyyyy.

…wow, even for him, that dragged out 'yay' had absolutely reeked of sarcasm. But hey, could anyone blame him?

After all, it wasn't super smooth criminals such as himself (pssh, yeah right, like anyone else was as smooth as himself) got coerced by some enigmatic woman into essentially being her crony. One that basically did what he always did anyways, just for different purposes.

That his 'employer' felt no need to give him all the details beyond what he needs to know at any given time was even more aggravating.

That he also now had to get help from the White Fang of all people was even worse. Seriously, those dirty animals had nothing but shit for brains, which made sense since that's all they seemed to spew when opening their mouths anyways, what with the whole 'oh, humans are at fault for our suffering' spiel they have going on. Seriously, just how pathetic. They think that, what, just because life shat all over them that suddenly they got the right to be going around killing humans out of some perceived self-righteousness?

Pfft, screw that noise.

Also, it especially didn't help that, for all their talk of being badasses, the White Fang grunts he'd been lent to carry out his operations were less than incompetent at what needed to be done, save for the exception of that Perry guy, probably the only animal of the dirty bunch that Roman would dare claim to even remotely like or respect.

Oh well, at least his 'employer' was hot. Not like it counted for much given how dangerous she was and all that other jazz, but hey, he had to take what he gets right now.

"But man, to think I'd go from bigtime thief to glorified errand boy… man, what a fall," he mumbled to himself as he finished up his cigar, throwing it aside after one final puff.

Getting up and stretching, he then grabbed his cane, Melodic Cudgel, and began to make his way back to the main room of his little safe house here, the room where he primarily put together his little plans.

Only this time around, the plan wouldn't be so little.

For the past few months, he's been forced to hit numerous Dust shops throughout the kingdom of Vale as well as various transportation routes for Dust shipments, all for the sake of whatever master plan his boss had in mind. Things had gone smoothly enough with this, if rather tediously, until semi-recently, when some of the boys he'd been lent from Junior ended up getting thrashed and captured by some punk kid, a veritable pipsqueak whose whole outfit pretty much blared 'I'm a huntress trainee!'

He'll reluctantly admit that Little Red had some moves on her, but she still irked him. Unexpected variables always did, more so when they had a chance to really botch his plans. It was only thanks to his boss that he was more or less able to get out of there safely.

And though he'd been able to make off with quite a bit of Dust that day, it hadn't quite been as much as he'd have liked. Not only that, but because of that one encounter, he's had to reluctantly cut back on what shops he hit and when due to that blasted huntsmen academy now being in session for the new semester or whatever, which meant having to be more cautious about trainees or even actual huntsmen and huntresses screwing up his operations.

But now, things were to be different. In just a few weeks, more like a month really, a large shipment of high quality Dust would be shipped here to Vale, courtesy of the SDC. Roman knew this thanks to some contacts here and there in various supposedly 'safe' places as he was sure civilians probably thought of them as.

Currently, he was putting together a plan on how to collect all that Dust, which was guaranteed to have far better protection in place than the measly Dust shops he's hit so far. This meant more weeks being spent preparing in advance and more manpower in getting the Dust and getting the hell out of dodge.

Given that said 'men' were those White Fang mutts, well, Roman's confidence in the upcoming operation wasn't exactly at an all-time high, but it was his boss' orders, so he didn't really have much room to disagree here, not if he wanted to keep breathing.

The only good thing to come out of all this is that at least he'd been sticking one to the SDC, those pretentious pricks.

Again, he had to take what little pleasures he could when they came along.

"Just a damn shame I have to suffer through so much stupidity just to get to that point, though," he said with a bit of intentionally dramatic flare.

Ah well, couldn't always expect everyone that worked for him to be as much of a criminal genius as him.

Now then, he thought silently as he entered the 'planning room' as he liked to call it, it was time to get to work.

* * *

 **Not quite as long as previous chapters, though it very well could've been if I'd bothered to expand a bit more on the JNPR dinner scene, but I felt it best to leave it as is. While small talk serves the purpose of revealing more about their personalities and background in a more tasteful fashion, well, it's all been shoved down our throats so much by fanfics in general that it's reached the point of physical pain, or so I feel. So, I felt it best to spare you guys that minor trouble. Hope you understand.**

 **That said, the primary point of that scene was to better establish the growing friendship between them all as well as further expanding on Jaune's motivations a bit more in the following scene without giving too much away just yet, though I'm sure most of you can make a damn good guess as to how he ended up that, ha ha.**

 **And as you can tell, the plot will be picking up just a bit more from here thanks to the Torchwick scene, though it will still be a little while before it truly starts to change things up from canon. But when it does, oh man, I know for certain now that you'll all get a kick out of it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the wait, everyone! Got a little stuck with writing the most recent chapter of my novel, which caused me a longer delay than I'd have thought. But that's finally done, so I was able to get to work on this.

Plus, well, the whole thing going on with Vic Mignogna honestly got me pretty sad and drained me of my cheer a fair bit. Sounds dumb, I know, but as a fan who's tried to follow what's been going on with certain VAs for literal years, including him, the recent news about him was quite a shock, especially since very few people seem keen on believing in the 'innocent until proven guilty' adage that everyone really ought to be following.

Until actual evidence of his wrongdoing comes forth – which I doubt will ever happen – I'm inclined to believe he's innocent. But regardless of his innocence, his career is pretty much done for – he's no longer Broly for the DB fans nor will he ever voice Qrow again for all you Qrow fans thanks to Funimation and Rooster Teeth firing him. So… yeah.

Yeah, not exactly the cheeriest thing to write about in my AN here, but just thought I should mention it. In any case, I'll spare you all the specifics and stuff; I merely did this just to make any aware that weren't aware of it before but have been hearing things here and there anyways.

Whatever opinions you may have about the situation are yours alone, let no one tell you otherwise.

So, again, yeah.

Other than that, not much else to tell other than that I managed to get a ticket to Lost Butterfly, luckily enough, so there's that. I have high hopes for this second part of the Heaven's Feel trilogy. The main song for it – I Beg You by Aimer – really has me looking forward to hearing it on theater speakers, ha ha. Now to just wait a month for it to come out.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 6

As weeks go by, Jaune had come to reevaluate many of the preconceptions he'd had about Beacon academy.

In some ways, it was a lot like what he'd expected and hoped it would be, but in numerous other ways, it was… different.

Not different in a bad way, he'd like to clarify, but he'd be hard-pressed to bring himself to describe the differences as outright good too.

If he had to try describing it though, he'd say with certainty that the differences from his initial expectations were… unusual.

After all, it wasn't exactly every day he heard students being given the truly arduous task of… collecting sap from trees.

Which is exactly what he and his team were doing right now.

"Nora, learn restraint please," said Ren.

"But Ren, it's good! Think of how well it could go with pancakes!" Nora whined.

"I would if you didn't keep chugging it all," Ren replied flatly.

Nora opened her mouth, ready to retort only to realize belatedly that in response to her friend's words that he was right. Imagining pancakes covered with this sap would be difficult to do if they couldn't even bring any back to try out.

Jaune chuckled slightly at the crestfallen expression on the auburn-haired girl's face, as overly dramatic as always.

However, he didn't let his amusement distract him entirely, keeping his hands near his sheathed swords at all times.

Earlier today, he and the rest of the first year teams had been informed by professor Goodwitch that they were to head to Forever Falls and collect several jars of tree sap per team. Apparently, some of the sap was for professor Peach's use, said use being something well beyond the scope of Jaune's mind to even remotely envision. As for the rest of the sap, however, well, some of it would go to the kitchen staff and any left over the students could use in whatever way they want… provided it was safe, the professor had stressed.

Due to said red colored forest being well away from the academy, Grimm were to be expected and it had been with this in mind that all students had been ordered to change into their combat outfits and gather their weapons and any other supplies they may need. Not that Jaune had needed such an order to do this, but he appreciated how seriously professor Goodwitch was taking this even if it did seem at the outset like a very simple and relaxing activity.

Granted, the Grimm were relatively few in number compared to other areas that they inhabited, but that didn't mean none of them should completely let down their guard.

So, to this end, Jaune had volunteered himself to be on lookout for his team while his friends took care of the sap collecting. Not that he didn't trust them to stay alert or anything but doing a little patrol of his own helped to keep him busy and relaxed.

Well, that and he had a slight allergy to the tree sap. Nothing too serious, just some facial swelling if he somehow ends up ingesting it and that would be horribly embarrassing.

So yeah, best just to leave it to his friends.

"Almost done?" he asked Pyrrha after a moment.

The redhead nodded. "Almost. Only have a few more jars to fill, though I think we've tapped just about every good tree here. We may have to move a bit further into the forest."

Jaune nodded in agreement. His time out in the frontier had provided him with a plethora of experience in many things, which is how he discovered his tree sap allergy. Among the things he's learned, he's become able to tell through sight alone which trees had sap and which ones even had a bit more than others, which had resulted in him being the primary navigator of his team in these parts, not that Forever Falls was a particularly tough place to navigate through, what with how spread out the trees were. Just about the only thing they had to look out for aside from any potential Grimm threats was occasional uneven ground.

Pausing in his walking, he peered south and started to scan the trees he could see for which ones may have enough sap to finish their sap collecting. He wasn't in a particular rush or anything to finish this task, but the professor had informed them all that if they finish earlier, they may take the time to relax while waiting for all the other teams to finish, provided they turn in the jars to her first back at the bullheads they came on.

Although such a thing was rather foreign to him still – rest and relaxation, that is – being out here in such a beautiful forest was enough to help him loosen up a tad bit. Even if he still worried for the safety of his friends and his fellow classmates, he consoled himself constantly by saying that they were all more than capable of taking care of themselves. Plus, with all of them relatively close to one another, providing backup to each other will be a cinch.

A few minutes go by in peaceful silence. Jaune even closed his eyes for a minute to enjoy the sound of the rustling red leaves and the equally red grass. He opened his eyes after that, just in time to see Pyrrha and Ren finished securing the lids to the jars they had been filling.

"Ready?" he asked.

Both of them nodded and he stepped in to help carry several jars, making sure the lids really were sealed on tight lest his allergies act up.

The four of them then proceeded deeper into the red forest, making idle conversation as they did so.

"I still can't believe just how red the forest is…" Pyrrha commented, looking to be in awe of how colorful Forever Falls was. "I'd heard of this place but walking through it now doesn't do the descriptions justice. It's really beautiful."

"Indeed." Ren was in obvious agreement. "I can't say I've ever seen a place like this during my travels."

"Same!" Nora agreed as well. She turned to Pyrrha. "And it really matches your hair!"

Pyrrha smiled and blushed a little. "You think so?"

Jaune nodded. "It does. Not just in color but in beauty too."

His partner suddenly started to stumble. Jaune was just about to drop his jars and help her, but she was able to recover and keep on walking without dropping her jars.

"You alright?" he asked with great concern.

Huh, how odd, the blush on Pyrrha's face had deepened from just a moment ago. "A-Ah, yes. I'm fine. It's just, ah, I hadn't thought you found my hair… well, beautiful."

Jaune could only blink dumbly as they all kept walking. "Why's that? Your hair is beautiful – anyone with eyes could tell that. And of course, the same could be said about you in general – you're a truly wonderful person."

Speaking nothing but the truth, Jaune found himself thoroughly bewildered when Pyrrha's face turned a shade of red darker than both her hair and Forever Falls, the girl speeding up a bit now so that she walked just a little further ahead of him and the others.

…Had he said something wrong here? He looked to Ren and Nora for an answer and found none. Instead, what he did find was looks of matching bemusement on the faces of his friends.

"Uh, Pyrrha, can you slow down just a little?" he eventually said. "We're here."

Reaching the next good harvesting spot for the sap, they all set down their jars and got to work once more, Pyrrha and Ren collecting the sap, Nora trying not so subtly and failing epically in trying to sneak a gulp or two from the jars. And just like before, Jaune established a perimeter around the current area, walking a radius of five meters around his friends.

The once peaceful silence was now a bit awkward for some reason and whenever he glanced at Pyrrha, the girl would look up and meet his eyes, only to then quickly glance away.

He had no idea what he did, but he now aimed to apologize later. Wouldn't do to leave things unresolved.

But in order to get to that point, they had to finish this up first. That meant making sure they all got back to the bullheads in one piece.

Patrolling, he scanned the area, looking for any fresh tracks that could potentially mean Grimm. But aside from some footprints indicating some of his fellow first years had traversed further on, there was nothing to worry about.

Inwardly, he sighed. Maybe, just maybe, he was being a bit too on guard still. He certainly couldn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary, so perhaps this really will be a simple trip, after all.

Trying not to let his now lessening tension seem too obvious to the others, Jaune turned around and made his way back to his team.

* * *

Blake was currently feeling a combination of blessed restfulness and anxiety. Having grown up on Menagerie, where technology hadn't quite been as omnipresent as it is in the main kingdoms, she was used to nature being all around her, so being out here in Forever Falls filled her with a minor sense of nostalgia, enough to make her remember her parents and the simpler times from back then… at least before she ran off to join the White Fang.

And that was where the anxiety was coming from, if only minutely.

…She'd abandoned Adam and by extension the White Fang in an area similar to this, a peaceful forest of pure red for as far as the eyes could see. The vibrant red all around her reminded her of that day and of Adam in specific, the particular shade of red of Forever Falls an almost exact match for the red streaks in both her former partner's hair and outfit.

Despite how desperately she wished to put him and the rest of her past behind her, the B of team RWBY couldn't help but wonder just how her former friend was doing.

Was he still as dedicated to the White Fang's cause as he was before? Did that mean he was also still putting innocent people at risk, just like he'd attempted to do back on the train?

Given how different he'd become from when the two of them first joined the White Fang, it was likely. And that saddened her, for it meant he was slowly yet steadily becoming a monster like many had accused the White Fang of being.

Had running away truly been the right thing then? Should she have remained behind instead to try changing things?

"Yo, Blake! How come it looks like you're seeing blue instead of red there, eh?" Yang called out as she approached her. She hefted a few jars full of sap up. "Could use a hand here, you know."

The blonde's sudden approach was enough to snap her from her thoughts before they could continue their downwards spiral, something that Blake was silently thankful for.

Thanks that she expressed through a roll of her eyes. "Seeing blue? Did you think I was feeling depressed, Yang?"

The blonde smiled a little. "Sure looked that way to me. Why the sad look? Didn't get to finish that porn book of yours from earlier?"

Blake blushed. "T-That's not it. And it's not porn."

"Yeeeeaaahhhh, if sex makes up more than 80 percent of the book, with a flimsy plot to excuse it all, it's porn." Yang shot her a cheeky grin. "And boy oh boy, you're a kinky one too…"

"When did you even look at it anyways?" Blake asked defensively.

"When you were in the bathroom earlier. Skimmed through it just to see what it was about." Yang's response had been casual and accompanied by a casual shrug. "Now, you gonna help me or what? These jars aren't going to carry themselves."

Blake once again rolled her eyes but obliged her partner by taking one of the jars. "Ruby and Weiss almost done filling the rest?"

"Yep~. Just a bit more to go then we can head back. Gotta say, kind of a bummer to not do any fighting, but being out and about like this is pretty nice."

"Oh? And here I thought you were just a brute," Blake teased, the normally quiet and tense girl eager for a little payback for the earlier mocking.

A sign that being on team RWBY so far was proving to be a surprisingly therapeutic experience. Not that she was just comfortable enough just yet around them to reveal the… other things about herself.

Under her bow, her cat ears twitched ever so slightly in response to that particular thought.

Yang gasped overdramatically. "Me… a brute? The demure and fragile me? Oh, Blake how could you call me such a cruel thing?" she moaned out in an obviously fake tone of sadness.

It was enough to make Blake laugh quietly.

"There you go," Yang suddenly commented with a much quieter voice, a small smile on her face. "Feel better now?"

The shift in her demeanor was enough to take Blake aback now. "…You knew something was bothering me all along, didn't you?"

Yang nodded. "Wasn't exactly that obvious considering how quiet and anti-social you are normally, but I've experience picking out that sort of thing." She glanced back in the direction Ruby and Weiss were in. "Being a big sister can be tough sometimes, you know… but rewarding too."

Blake was at a loss for words. In the few weeks since team RWBY was formed, she's come to learn in short order that there was more than meets the eye to each of her teammates, her partner naturally included, but this was a surprise.

"Sorry for worrying you then," she murmured.

"Eh, no problem. We're partners, after all." Yang played it off with a shrug as she walked forward a bit. Blake endeavored to keep pace with her. "So, what was bugging you?"

Blake's immediate instinct was to just stay quiet, bottle it all in. This lasted for all of a few seconds, however, as she fought back against this instinct of hers. When she'd parted ways with Adam and the White Fang, she'd done so to have a fresh start. To do that, she knew she must change, if only a bit. Now was as good a time as any to really start doing that.

"Just… remembering some stuff from the past," she said a little lamely. Just because she intended to change didn't mean it'd be an immediate process. "…I once had a good friend, but over the years he, well, he changed."

"Not for the better, I'm guessing."

Blake nodded. "The scenery here… the color reminds me of him."

"Red, huh?" Yang mumbled. She slowed down a bit and looked around her, as if looking upon the shockingly red leaves and grass for the first time. She then hummed. "Didn't part on good terms?"

"No."

Another hum. "I see. Well, Blakey, you sure seem to have a dark past. Probably why you read porn – to make up for it all." Though meant clearly to be a good-natured jab, it lacked the playfulness from before.

Nonetheless, it was enough to make Blake smile a bit. "Try not to use that joke too often, Yang, or else it'll go just as stale as your other puns."

"Ha, I'll keep that in mind." Yang then stopped outright and looked at her. "But getting back on topic here, whatever it is that happened, Blake, it's in the past now for a reason, I'm guessing. And there's no point in dwelling on it anymore than you need to. Otherwise the only thing you're gonna accomplish is making yourself miserable."

The disguised Faunus could only nod. "Fair point and one I've been trying to act on, but…"

"But it's tough," Yang finished for her, bobbing her head in agreement. "You got me there. But hey, when's the last time something worthwhile has been easy, right?"

Yang turned to her, a smile on her face now. "But I'm sure you'll pull through. And if you ever need someone to unload on, you can always come to me, alright?"

Now it was Blake who was smiling. "Thanks, Yang," she said, meaning it.

Then, a bit against her own will, she chuckled. "I have to say though, didn't expect such a serious conversation from you of all people."

"Heh! Well, I am a big sister, after all. Guess looking after Rubes for all these years just got me too used to being in 'big sis' mode all the time."

"Noted. The relationship the two of you have… it's nice to see." Blake paused. "I'm guessing there's a bit of a story there too, isn't there?"

Yang was now the one to look a little solemn. "Kind of, yeah."

Nodding, Blake continued. "In that case, if you're willing to tell it, I'm willing to listen. It's only fair, after all, what with being partners and all."

Yang's smile returned in full. "Thanks. Maybe later, though – looks like they're finally done."

"Will look forward to it then," Blake said.

Feeling better now than she'd been feeling minutes ago, Blake waited alongside Yang as the other two members of the team – her friends, she corrected – now caught up with them, their sap collecting finally done.

Once Ruby and Weiss caught up, bickering lightly over something or other, Blake took the remaining time spent of their trip thoroughly enjoying it, her entire being much lighter than it had ever been.

Perhaps running away from the White Fang had been the best decision, after all.

* * *

Off in the distance, having already finished filling most of their jars with sap with only one more that needed to be filled, was team CDRL.

The all-male team worked and relaxed in complete silence, uncomfortable silence.

The reason for this? Off in the near distance was just the barely visible sight of team JNPR, now finished with their sap collecting and heading back to the bullheads.

The four teens paused in what they were doing to eye team JNPR as they trekked on, the four of them currently engaged in what seemed like casual banter.

However, the one they were all focused on was the leader of the team, Jaune Arc, currently talking to his partner. From the looks of it, he seemed apologetic about something, said something that the redhead was awkwardly waving off.

"So," Dove suddenly began, the first of them to break the tense silence. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" Russel asked, confounded. "Plan for what?"

"Well, I mean, here we are, pretty much glaring daggers at that Arc guy," Dove mumbled out. "Can't help but feel as if we're going to do something, you know?"

Sky looked at Dove as if he were insane. "Why the hell would we do that?"

"Let me guess," Russel started. "For that spar, right?"

Speaking those words, they all looked to their leader whose hands had balled into fists in response to that remark.

The three teens fell silent, waiting for Cardin to now make a comment. But when a full minute passed with nothing being said, Russel continued. " _Are_ we going to do something to him, Cardin?"

Not that he wanted to per say – having been in the front row in combat class when the spar had occurred, he and the others here had gotten as close of a look as was possible at their leader essentially being toyed with the whole time. And for all their arrogant and bullying ways, they knew when they were outclassed and weren't too keen on 'avenging their leader for the loss' or whatever bullshit reason they could think up.

If others were privy to this simple train of thought, some would label team CDRL as cowards. However, they'd be wrong. In fact, that they could recognize the difference between them and Jaune Arc in terms of strength, skill, and experience and respond accordingly was a surprisingly tactical move on their part.

After all, only a complete fool would dare challenge someone well beyond their abilities and believe they have a chance at victory.

But just because the three of them knew this didn't necessarily mean their leader might feel that way. And if Cardin were to say they should try jumping Arc or prank him or whatever, then they could only follow.

While weeks have passed since the spar, their leader had been preoccupied with his thoughts and while that might seem like a sign that nothing would be done, now was the perfect chance to try evening the score if Cardin so desired, considering they were all out here in a forest where anything could happen.

Dove knew this. Russel knew this. Sky knew this.

And, of course, so did Cardin.

"Yo, Cardin!" Dove called out. "Come on, man, tell us what you're thinking. You've been holding back on us this whole time. Do you want some payback or not?"

They all waited a few seconds for a response to come, but when it looked like he wasn't going to answer yet again, Dove prepared to ask their leader again.

Only to stop when Cardin let out a heavy sigh. "…No."

"Say what now?"

"I said no," Cardin growled out as he turned around, his normally haughty expression gone. "No ambushing him or trying to prank his blond ass… we're going to leave him alone, you hear me, you punks? Same goes for the rest of his team too."

The three other members of team CDRL was utterly stupefied.

"Okay, we're cool with that," Russel spoke. "But I got to ask here: why? We were all thinking you'd be itching to even the score."

Cardin's expression scrunched up, grimacing. But then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

As he did so, the C of CDRL thought back to that day, recalling with perfect clarity the blond teen's immense strength, his nearly impossible to follow speed, the precision of his movements.

And above all else, he recalled perfectly the teen's intensity and conviction – not to win, but to _help_ him of all people in fighting better, in drawing out even just a bit more of his potential…. As well as the words spoken at the end there, after helping him up.

There'd been genuine faith in those words, even hope that bordered on anticipation. It had been enough to practically burn themselves into Cardin's brain.

His loss to Jaune hadn't been the least bit embarrassing, especially when everyone else had been just as shocked and entranced as he'd been by the blond teen's actions. Hell, even the professor had looked completely stumped by the one-sided lesson.

He's done a lot of thinking since then… and decided he didn't like that blond bastard, not one bit.

But Cardin could respect him, if nothing else. And it was out of this respect for the blond that he's done so much thinking lately.

Payback, his buddies had asked of him? Well, they weren't wrong about him wanting payback per say, but it wouldn't be done the way they were thinking of.

No, payback to him now meant showing the blond bastard up.

Jaune had faith and hope in him being a great huntsman, eh? Fine then. He'll become the best fucking huntsman Remnant will ever see, then relish in the look of shock in the guy's eyes when he exceeds his expectations by a goddamned mile.

Yeah, to him, that'd be the most appropriate and perfect payback possible.

"…Heh!"

"Something up?"

"Nah," Cardin answered. He'd tried to keep himself from chuckling in anticipation, but it looks like he hadn't been successful there. "Just thinking again."

"You ever gonna let us in on those thoughts of yours?" Dove asked, now looking annoyed.

"Not if you keep whining like that. Now come on, let's get this done so we can head back. Wanna try something new during training later."

The three other members of the team could only look at Cardin in complete bewilderment but didn't argue.

All that mattered to them was that Cardin looked a little happier now.

They were cool with that.

* * *

What exactly, Ozpin pondered, could the queen and her forces be planning?

He paced his office with a sense of befuddlement and anxiety that he hadn't felt in a very long time.

Things certainly hadn't gone as he'd been expecting or hoping for today.

At first, things had started out normal enough – wake up, freshen up and change, get his usual cup of coca, then get to work – but then not too long after Glynda had taken the first-years to Forever Falls for the sap collecting, he received a message from Qrow.

Although the man was an unapologetic drunkard, he was good at what he did and always stuck to a certain schedule when it came to updating him about things. The only times where the Q of former team STRQ would break this habit of his is when there was something truly worrisome or at the very least unusual had occurred during his journeys.

In this case, it was thankfully the latter, though it still caused Ozpin no small amount of confusion and even worry.

Qrow usually was tasked with any leads there may be about finding out and tracking down the queen's current generation of pawns, humans and Faunus that have come under her sway for one reason or another. This was an assignment that had only grown more serious following what had occurred several months ago, the sudden attack on Amber having come as a true shock and mortal blow to him.

It was imperative that these people the queen had at her disposal now be dealt with one way or another before they can be mobilized again and do more harm to others.

This meant a lot of traveling being done for Qrow, travelling that took him throughout the lands for weeks and months at a time.

Recently, the alcohol-loving man had ventured further and further out into the frontier lands, where towns and villages were less and less plentiful while Grimm tended to make up for that number.

It had come as a genuine surprise to Qrow and now to Ozpin to realize that the frontier had actually _expanded,_ with previously small villages having grown in size and population by a small yet still noticeable margin.

Why had they grown? The answer had been both simple and honestly amazing.

The Grimm population, normally so vast as to be the very embodiment of despair, had gone _down_ out there, enough for these villages that lied the furthest away from the walls of Vale to have enough courage and time to develop.

All the centuries and even millennia he's been alive had long since taught Ozpin that no matter how many Grimm were slain, it was only a matter of time until more were spawned and migrated out of the Grimmlands, thereby pushing the Grimm population back into the areas they'd been cleared out of before. It was for these reasons that expansion became increasingly difficult to do for humanity, especially when it simply wasn't possible to slay every Grimm in a given area, thereby allowing them time to further develop and grow in size, strength and intelligence.

It was precisely because of this that the rare but all too dangerous Leviathan-classed Grimm ever came to be.

However, Qrow had noticed an anomaly here. For reasons he couldn't discern, there simply weren't that many Grimm hanging around the frontier lands anymore. That wasn't to say they were gone completely, but the few that had occasionally made their way near the expanding villages had been so few in number that the villagers had been able to band together and deal with them easily enough all on their own, his help not really needed.

Really, Qrow had had to journey even further out into the lands to really spot Grimm in greater abundance and to his surprise, the Grimm hadn't looked too interested in traversing much closer towards the villages.

It was almost as if some invisible force had been at work here, something the man had inquired about in his usually blunt way.

And apparently, according to people he's spoken to at various villages and towns, they owed their chance at expansion all to a young man, a teen really, that had passed by at some point during the past two years.

A certain blond young man that Ozpin knew the name of.

Jaune Arc.

"Just when I thought my interest couldn't be peaked anymore," Ozpin murmured to himself right before taking another sip of his cocoa.

He's learned from the young man's application weeks ago that he'd wandered around the frontier, had listed people to contact to prove this, but never had Ozpin imagined that young Arc had traveled _that_ far out into the frontier, where safe long-distance communication with the inhabitants there truly was impossible.

Just as there was more than meets the eyes to Ruby Rose (pun intended), the same could be said almost triply so for the leader of team JNPR.

"….Hmm." Suddenly having a random thought, Ozpin went to his desk and swiftly accessed the security system Beacon had.

Specifically, he accessed the hidden cameras out in the forest where initiation was held, focusing on the areas Jaune Arc had traveled and fought his way through.

It took quite some time speeding through the continuous recording that had gone on since then as well as the present time, but the headmaster was patient and skilled at the manipulation of the camera recordings.

A solid hour later, after reviewing what he needed to review, he came to note a truly interesting observation.

Whenever there weren't humans and Faunus present, the Grimm tended to act almost docile, much like actual animals left out in the wild. This meant forming certain territories and at time migrating elsewhere for better spots, not that they needed to given their complete lack of need for any sustenance.

And he was quick to realize that the areas Jaune Arc had traversed during the initiation remained suspiciously clear of Grimm even weeks after he's ever been there. It was almost as if the Grimm were avoiding the very path he walked, though not necessarily out of fear – they weren't capable of emotion in any recognizable way – but more as if those very areas were almost invisible to them or at the very least held absolutely no interest to them.

He's studied many things over his many lifetimes, including animals and their habits. He could recall how some packs would instinctively avoid certain areas, somehow recognizing said areas as belonging to much more dangerous animals, predators that would end their lives at a moment's notice for either food or for sheer sport.

The way the Grimm were acting was eerily similar to that. Predators they may be, but they knew better than to intrude on the grounds they felt belonged to the apex predator.

The 'apex' in this case being Jaune, again, even though it's been weeks since he's ever set foot there.

"How very curious, Mr. Arc…" Ozpin said aloud with only himself to hear. He leaned back a little into his chair, arms rested on his knees and his fingers interlocked in his lap. "I'd thought myself truly lucky to have Ms. Rose here, no matter how much it may pain me to possibly have her fight… but now I see I'd been more blessed than I'd realized."

Was this a good sign of sorts? A part of him, the naïve part of him that never quite withered away, truly wished it to be so.

But the rest of him disagreed strongly. Was it a sign? Perhaps. But a good one? That remains to be seen, especially since so little was still known about Jaune Arc. Even taking into account the reputation he'd swiftly been building for himself in these past few weeks, Ozpin couldn't afford to take it at face value.

In fact, the much more cynical part of him, the one he'd so desperately tried to hide a few lifetimes back, was now rearing its ugly head, whispering to him of all the bad things this could possibly mean, that it was far too good to be true to have such a potential new ally figuratively fall into his hands like this.

A young man whose very presence and actions could have such long lasting effects even after how many years have passed on the frontier… a young man that the Grimm seemed to avoid after the fact… indeed, it really did feel too good to be true in a way.

In fact, the more he started to dwell on the effects Jaune Arc seemed to have had on the areas he's visited thus far, the more he dwelt on the young man's current actions here at Beacon… he began to realize something here.

The blond was, if only a bit, just a little too… too perfect in a way, at least when speaking from a certain perspective here.

Recalling what other details Qrow had mentioned in his message, it was clear that the villagers and townspeople thought of the young Arc as a hero, a figure to be admired and even idolized.

But Ozpin has met many heroes over the centuries, had even been considered one himself far back then.

And in his personal experience, heroes had always been extraordinary people… but there had also been those that could only be described as monsters themselves, often possessing abilities truly beyond the pale and with mindsets that could only vaguely be understood and empathized with.

The latter category was one he couldn't help but place Jaune in the more he thought on all this.

Hence the worry he was currently feeling.

"Jaune Arc," Ozpin began. "Just what kind of hero are you?"

* * *

 **This is a filler chapter, pure and simple, but one with a point.**

 **For one thing, not much really ever happened in volume 1 of the series beyond set-up, of both the setting (to some minor extent) and of the characters and their relationships with one another. It wasn't really until the last few episodes as well as the latter half of volume 2 where things truly began to pick up in terms of the plot for RWBY.**

 **For another, as much as I like RWBY, the series was really lacking back then (still is now too, but will withhold my opinion on that matter), sort of just skipping days and weeks at a time between some episodes with little to show for it in regards to the characters interacting with one another.**

 **In all honesty, the Forever Falls scene between Blake and Yang that I wrote was really something that could've and should've happened in the show – Blake had abandoned Adam after all in very similar scenery and given how hung up she was about him and the White Fang, I'm surprised it took until volume 2 for her to get so obsessed over it and stuff. Plus, it'd give her a better foundation for the friendship and possibly more that she later had with Yang.**

 **Sure, since this is my fic, I could 'fill in the gaps' however I want with plenty of drama and action, but typical teen drama and spars, no matter how well written or intense, could only go so far, which is why I'm holding off until the much more serious parts I've planned for this fic. This is also why it's been nothing but build up so far in this fic.**

 **If said build up is getting frustrating for you guys, I understand and apologize, but again I believe it necessary for what is to come. The next few chapters will finally be delivering on that aspect and from there, things will really pick up.**

 **Hope you guys understand.**

 **Ah, and on another note, the Cardin scene. Just want to say right now that this won't be the last you see of him. Though I've no plans to make him a frequent recurring character, he will still have his own little storyline going on in the background. His Forever Falls scene was merely one of many steps in that direction. To me, he's always been one of many characters that could've been so much more, only to be pretty much dropped out of the limelight after just an episode or two. Consider this my attempt to correct that, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care and may you look forward to what's coming next!**


	7. Chapter 7

Watched the final How to Train Your Dragon film recently with my brothers and mom. Have to say, the ending was honestly very touching, even got me to tear up just a little – I'm sensitive like that, ha ha ha.

That said, the rest of the movie was pretty… well, wouldn't say rehashed, but it certainly did a lot of similar things to the first two, to the point where it felt like I wasn't really watching the Hidden World. Not necessarily a bad thing, per say, but not exactly good at least from my perspective. And I was also reminded yet again of how much I disliked a few of Hiccup's comrades, who really just irritated me simply by existing.

Also, the villain wasn't anyone too complex, though maybe my standards are just a little too high nowadays for well-written villains. If nothing else, he was semi-effective at what he did.

Ah well, that aside, I'm just counting down the days until DMC5 comes out! Barely a week left, people, and the anticipation is really getting to me now, ha! Plan to get a PS4 Slim and the game itself together when they come out and when that happens, well, I may or may not find myself with less time to write for a while, depends on other life circumstances. I don't' think that it'll impact my writing time that much, but as we all well know, life has a way of surprising us.

So, yeah, just wanted to let you all know in advance in case something does happen.

Whelp, other than that, not too much else needs to be said. Well, no that's technically wrong – a part of me really wants to discuss all the specifics of what I have planned for this, but of course doing so would be spoiling, so I'm left with no choice but to ruthlessly suppress said part of me, much to my own consternation. Ah, times like this where it almost sucks having to take things slow and steady with writing, heh.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 7

A few more weeks pass by in relative peace. By now, all the first years have adjusted to student life at Beacon, their sense of wonder and awe now pretty much gone. The grand size of the campus and its state-of-the-art facilities can only wow them so much before losing their sense of grandeur.

However, just because the academy itself had lost its grand appeal to the students didn't mean they couldn't find other things to amaze themselves with.

Such as what was currently going on within the various training rooms Beacon had to offer.

It was currently the weekend, meaning it was time for the students to go about their daily lives when not bothered by schoolwork (provided they didn't procrastinate _that_ much in the first place). This meant numerous students of all years heading out into Vale for a day out on the massive city or simply resting in their rooms or the large rec room that the dorms had where students could kick back and relax.

Others, however, which is to say the more studious and committed ones, took to using their free time more proactively, heading to either the training rooms or somewhere open on campus to either train or spar with their friends.

Team JNPR was no exception in this regard, having found a nice large open area within one of the training rooms to conduct their spars.

Said training room was large enough to allow multiple teams to head in there and use it simultaneously and they were hardly the only team there, with primarily other first year teams there to brush up on their own moves and the like.

However, most had forgone their own training in favor of watching what was going on in team JNPR's chosen area.

Namely, they were watching the spar between the leader of team JNPR and his own partner, the Invincible Girl – Pyrrha Nikos.

Both of them were considered something akin to legends amongst their age group, the latter due to her fame gained from Mistral's regional championship and various sponsorship deals that had resulted in her name and face being plastered everywhere whereas the former's shocking display against one Cardin Winchester as well as his behavior in everyday life having earned him much intrigue.

And right now, the two were demonstrating their prowess for all to see.

They stuck primarily to close combat, Jaune utilizing both of his blades against Pyrrha's multi-function weapon and shield.

As the two ducked and weaved and advanced and retreated between their attacks, their onlookers could only describe what they were seeing as something akin to a dance, only somehow far more beautiful despite being so much more deadly of course.

That the two have yet to actually strike one another only seemed to raise the stakes and tension that much more, several quietly betting amongst themselves on who would be the first to land the first direct hit.

Meanwhile, off to the side of the sparring ring was Nora and Ren, who watched closely and also with some sense of awe about them but at the same time far more clinically, studying their teammate's moves closely. Even the normally bubbly and almost truly crazy Nora was quiet and analytical in how she observed her friends fight.

To her, Ren, and everyone else there, the two seemed to be perfectly matched, neither side gaining or giving an inch.

The truth, however, was much different, a truth that Pyrrha realized early on in the spar.

Her partner was truly exceptional and in more ways than one.

"Ha!" she cried out as she swung Milo, expertly shifting it into its javelin form in mid-swing. She intended to use the sudden extension of her weapon to try and force Jaune back, but the blond merely deflected the attack with the side of the blade in his left hand and simultaneously swung forward with his right. Pyrrha was left with no choice but to block with Akouo to avoid being struck.

Even then, the force behind the strike nearly knocked her back. If she hadn't planted her feet so firmly, she really would've been sent flying.

Jaune truly was a force to be reckoned with. In the short time they've bene exchanging blows so far, he's moved with speed so great and struck with strength so great that if not for the subtle use of her semblance upon his blades, she would've already been hit plenty of times. Even then, there's been some truly close calls.

Her semblance of polarity was truly an amazing one, but unless she was willing to really cut loose with it, using it to slow down Jaune in any significant fashion was impossible. That he could still strike so accurately and with such strength and speed even when she attempted to alter the course of his blows was mindboggling.

What's more, she could tell Jaune now knew about her semblance and how she was using it – the small shifts in his expression early on had indicated he'd noticed the first time his blades had started to deviate slightly off course. In response, he'd simply started to swing even harder, making it much more difficult for her to affect his weapons when so much strength was being put into them. It was just ridiculous.

Realizing that if this continued, it'd only be a matter of time until Jaune struck her, Pyrrha was left with no choice but to change things up a bit.

Her competitive spirit awakened within her, she opted to do as much as she could afford to do to try and win this.

She threw Akouo at Jaune as she leapt back, shifting Milo into its rifle form in the process. Jaune had slowed down just a tad bit when he'd ducked under Akouo and was finally forced to slow down just a bit more when she used her semblance to alter her shield's course a bit, making it shift ever closer to the side of Jaune's head.

He smacked it aside with an elbow, however, and sped up once more but by then she'd already started firing multiple shots at her partner.

Jaune's expression, ever so intense, didn't shift in the slightest as the bullets whizzed his way. He merely lashed out with his swords and deflected them all before leaping at her with a shocking burst of speed, much greater than what he's demonstrated in initiation or against Cardin.

The distance she'd opened up now quickly being closed, Pyrrha was forced to gracefully roll to the right to avoid the right swing Jaune unleashed, shifting Milo into its blade form and slashing at Jaune, who countered the swing with his left blade.

Pyrrha could practically hear her own bones rattle as their blades clashed, the force of it causing her to nearly lock up in place. That was when Jaune got a little closer and shifted his grip on his left sword, flipping it so that he held it in a reverse grip and thrust the pommel at Pyrrha's face.

The redhead tilted her head to the side to dodge then proceeded to disengage, moving to the side yet again as Jaune had also reversed his grip on his right blade and did an upwards slice. It would've caught her on her side if she hadn't used the flat side of Milo to guard against it.

Once more, Jaune's strength amazed her, for even though it was but a graze, one that she'd defended against, it still nearly sent her off balance but she managed to correct her footing with just a little extra skip to her steps.

Jaune gave her no chance to retreat this time and followed right after her. It seemed he was already getting used to how she fought and was already predicting ahead a bit.

But could he predict this, she wondered?

Using her semblance for small things was something she could do with ease, with nary a physical move on her part. And having trained with Milo and Akouo for so long in her life has made it especially easy for her to manipulate them without any real effort on her part.

So, with but a thought, she lifted Akouo off the floor and made it rocket back towards her at the speed of a bullet – a path that Jaune happened to be in the way of.

Her shield gained more and more speed, so much so for that just a single millisecond, Pyrrha (along with her audience) genuinely thought it was going to crash right into Jaune's exposed back.

But he must have heard it now whizzing behind him, for with only a mild hum, he suddenly turned in mid-dash and kicked the shield hard enough to send it flying into a wall several yards away, embedding itself in it.

At the same time he'd kicked it, he'd also swung his left blade at an angle. Pyrrha was able to parry it though and promptly slice at Jaune's side. However, he was already turning fully back around to focus on her and twisted to his right to deftly dodge her attack by an inch at best.

His new position put him closer to her, much closer than she'd have preferred (for various reasons) especially since his head was now rather close to her chest.

Whatever embarrassing thoughts suddenly popped into her mind were ignored though when she saw him tense up, ready to deliver what would truly be a massive attack as he raised his arms back.

Acting on instinct, she held out a hand towards him, palm outwards.

To those watching, it probably looked as though she was going to suddenly beg him to stop, but in reality it was just her using her semblance much more forcefully now.

Unleashing the strength of said semblance much more freely now, she pushed back on the blades – and as she did so, it looked as though Jaune's grip on said swords would result in him being dragged back with them too.

Only for that to not happen.

The very instant he seemed to feel the tug, Jaune immediately _let go_ of both his swords – and swung his fist at her.

This action was so sudden and surprising that it was all Pyrrha could do to try blocking with Milo. But she wasn't quite able to get her blade up fully in time and so Jaune's right fist impacted against the side of her right arm.

The blow knocked well out of the large circle that made up the sparring area and actually sent her tumbling along the floor until she nearly crashed into some of the people in another sparring ring meters away.

"U-Ugh…" Pyrrha groaned out. That had hurt. If not for her aura, who knows how bad that could've been.

Speaking of which…

She looked back at the monitor that was above the area she and Jaune had been in, which tracked their aura levels.

With just that one blow, her aura gauge had gone from full down to nearly halfway. To think she'd even remotely guarded against it too.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called out, no longer looking so intense and serious, as he all but ran like mad up to her. "S-Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

Pyrrha could only smile. "I'm fine," she said as he offered her a hand up, which she gracefully accepted. "I have to say though, you're much stronger than you look. N-Not that you don't look strong, however…" She stuttered out upon realizing that what she could've said might have been somewhat insulting.

Jaune, however, merely smiled in relief. "As long as you're okay. Ah, here." He held up Milo, which had fallen out of her grip during her tumble just now.

Pyrrha accepted her weapon and used her semblance to retrieve Akouo at the same time, though it took a bit of effort to pull it out of the wall. Just how hard had Jaune struck it?

All the while, everyone around them were practically going nuts, whispering to one another in amazement at what they'd just seen.

She, the Invincible Girl, had just lost a spar.

This was something that clearly amazed and even bothered them all a fair bit, but not Pyrrha. If anything, she was pleasantly surprised.

Earlier, she'd asked Jaune for a spar with the simple intention of learning each other's moves so that they could then formulate how best to synchronize their attacks if or when they'd combat against a threat together, a request and reasoning that her partner/leader had readily accepted.

That said, she'd also had in mind the desire to test her strength against his. And needless to say, being on the receiving end of Jaune's blades had certainly been a whole new experience for her.

In the past, many of her opponents had usually specialized in just the one thing, be it strength or speed or technique or maybe a certain form of fighting. It'd been rare when she'd gone up against people that could be considered jacks of all trades in any respect and even when she had, she'd usually been able to overcome them with varying levels of ease due to herself being even more of a jack of all trades and through liberal yet subtle use of her polarity semblance.

However, Jaune put all her past opponents to shame, combining immense strength with equally immense speed and skill. He was also clearly quite experienced, having not been particularly fazed by any of the few elaborate maneuvers she'd performed in the beginning of their spar.

His only 'weakness,' if it could be called that, was his lack of a ranged option.

Yet even then…

"You were holding back, weren't you?" she suddenly commented, albeit quietly so that no one nearby overheard and fanned the flames of their conversation any more.

Jaune winced ever so slightly. "You noticed…? No, I shouldn't be surprised; after all, you're plenty skilled yourself," he mumbled with a small smile. "And yes, I was… sorry." He looked as though he'd committed a wrong.

But unlike most people, Pyrrha merely shook her head, shrugging off his apology. These past few weeks, she's come to learn more about the kind of person her friends were. "You're not the kind of person to do so for no good reason, Jaune. No need to apologize," she said brightly.

"…Thanks for your understanding." He returned her smile with a more grateful one.

Her smile grew a bit, glad to see how much he already seemed to trust her. That aside, however, she'd be lying if she wasn't curious about why he'd held back or how exactly he was doing so.

But forcing answers out of others would achieve nothing but misery and distrust, so she'll leave it be for later. Besides, she'd technically held back too – if this had been a true battle to the end, she could've unleashed the full might of her semblance to tear apart the whole room and use it as a weapon.

That said, she'd be lying if she wasn't extremely curious about how exactly Jaune had been holding back – he'd been pretty intense earlier.

"Aw yeah! Our team rocks!" Nora screamed as she and Ren finally approached them. The auburn-haired girl was looking positively pumped despite having not actually fought herself. "You two were like 'whoosh' and 'slash' and 'bam!' Made me wanna join in with Magnhild!"

Pyrrha and her partner smiled wryly. "Not sure that would've been a good idea; you'd have probably started shooting grenades everywhere."

"Well yeah, wouldn't be much fun otherwise," Nora casually admitted.

"Nora, there wouldn't be much of a training room afterwards if you did that," Ren chastised.

"Bah, plenty more rooms to use!"

"Not sure the professors would appreciate that though."

As always, Nora's and Ren's little banter got a laugh out of Pyrrha. Jaune merely smiled.

Then he spoke. "Well, all things considered, this had been a learning experience for me. I hope the feeling is mutual."

Pyrrha nodded. "It certainly was."

Given how experienced he appeared to be, Pyrrha wasn't too sure about how much her blond friend could've really learned from her, but he didn't seem the type to lie for the sake of appeasing someone's feelings, so she'll take his word for it.

The two of them along with Nora and Ren would've continued their post-sparring discussion and small talk right then and there, but the chatter amongst the rest of the students around them was still ongoing and now it was beginning to be just a bit too much for them to not focus on it.

"Uhm, perhaps we should call it a day and head back?" Jaune proposed.

"Aw, you can't do that fearless leader! I haven't had a crack at you yet!" Nora whined.

He chuckled lightly. "Maybe later, Nora. My views on sparring and competition aside, I'll welcome your challenge anytime."

Nora grinned in response, clearly holding him to that indirect promise already.

Pyrrha giggled at this as they all started to take their leave. As they did so, the redhead discreetly took a whiff of herself and silently resolved to take a shower ASAP – that spar really had worked up a sweat.

Hard to believe it had lasted twenty-five solid minutes. No wonder she was so winded.

However, Jaune's scroll went off. He was receiving a call, from Ruby judging by the picture that popped up on it.

Though they had exchanged contact info with team RWBY over the past few weeks, they never exactly got around to using it due to them all being on campus. So, for Ruby to suddenly call like this… something was up, Pyrrha realized.

Evidently, the rest of her friends thought so too for they all quickly exited the room now and rounded the corner as to have some modicum of privacy.

Jaune then answered the call, his expression serious once again. "Ruby, is something wrong?"

If Pyrrha remembered right, team RWBY had gone out into Vale earlier today… had something happened?

Judging by the way Jaune's eyes narrowed, it seems something has.

* * *

"…And that's what happened," Ruby explained, her usually bubbly expression nowhere to be seen. In fact, she looked quite down, something that made Jaune want to immediately console her, though he held back.

"I see," he said instead.

About fifteen minutes ago, Ruby had called him out of the blue to inform him that Blake had run off on them and that they needed help looking for her. So quite naturally, he'd immediately rushed to the nearest bullhead to be taken to Vale, his team having come along with him.

As per Ruby's request, however, they'd first met up at a little corner café in order to be given a rundown of the situation that had led to Blake's running away in the first place. That said café had been some little one with not much in the ways of customers and that the young leader had picked a table furthest away from the bustling street had set off red flags in his mind.

And after what he and his team had just been told, he could see exactly why Ruby had done so.

"T-That's…" Surprisingly, it was Ren who'd stuttered out that one word before trailing off.

Jaune couldn't blame him for doing so.

After all, it wasn't everyday one learns one of their classmates/friends had been a part of the White Fang.

Oh, and hiding her Faunus heritage too, though Jaune had already known that much. Kind of hard not to notice once one knew what to look for.

But of course, this revelation was by no means something minor – the R, W, and Y of team RWBY looked positively crushed.

Ruby looked sad and hurt.

Weiss appeared betrayed and angry.

And Yang, while trying to put up a strong front, was simply lost, what she'd learned having clearly struck her the most.

And the longer Blake remained away from them like this, the more it would hurt them. He tried not to clench his fists too tightly.

This would _not_ stand.

"What direction did she run off in?" he asked, the only one to be speaking now while everyone else, even Nora, sat there in a stunned silence, his team more so than RWY due to the shock being so fresh. "Has she also ever mentioned any parts of Vale she seemed to have taken a liking to?"

There was no time to waste. If they were to find Blake within a reasonable time frame, they'd have to start the search as soon as possible.

During his travels, he hasn't simply fought off Grimm and bandits nor just helped villages and towns with any repairs or construction they'd needed. He'd also gone in search of people that had been missing, albeit on rare occasion.

Nonetheless, he had some measure of experience there. While labeling Blake as 'missing' in the same way as the people he's looked for before would be a stretch, the basics still applied.

First, figure out the direction she took off, determine where if any good locations lied in said direction could serve as hiding spots. And of course, if the person in question also had shown any inclinations towards anywhere in Vale. Personal experience had taught him that people tended to head towards places they were familiar with, places that brought them some sense of comfort.

But even if he knew all this, it wouldn't be easy – Blake, precisely because she was once a member of the White Fang, would likely have had some training and real experience in stealth and espionage and so would try to avoid any locations that may seem too obvious.

Not only that, but Vale was a very big place to search even if they could narrow down the search area. And with Blake's speed and agility, she could easily traverse a fair distance within short periods of time, especially if she was that determined in running off.

That she even ran off in the first place rather than even try to explain herself to them also said something too about her.

But that was for later.

They had to find her first.

Alas, it appeared someone didn't quite share his opinion.

"Why should we know where that traitor went?" Weiss said bitterly, arms folded across her chest. Her entire form, petite as it was, radiated with great anger.

His time out in the frontier had naturally left him out of the loop on recent events regarding the kingdoms and so over the past several weeks, he's tried to catch up, reading online articles dating back days, weeks, months, even years at a steady pace.

Though his grasp of the situation was far from clear just yet, he'd also read up on the animosity between the White Fang and the Schnees, born from anger over Faunus workers' working conditions in the Dust mines and the personal attacks on members of the Schnee family.

That Weiss and Blake ended up on the same team was truly a one-in-a-million kind of chance – a Schnee and a former White Fang member being anywhere near each other on peaceful terms would've truly boggled the minds of anyone who could ever learn of this.

He could only imagine how Weiss must be taking this.

Alas, now was not a time for this.

"Weiss," he began. "I can barely imagine what you must be feeling right now… but now is not the time for this."

The serious, even strict, tone of his voice was enough to make her head snap in his direction, the heiress shocked by his words.

This wasn't something exclusive to just her; the others looked just as taken aback by him too.

He ignored their gazes and continued. "Right now, your teammate and friend is out there, on the run – not just from you, but from herself too. The longer she continues to run, the further away she continues to get, the more harm she's doing to not just you but to herself." He made sure to look Ruby, Weiss, and Yang in the eyes as he said this. "You all want closure on this mess of a situation, but that's not going to happen if you all don't try."

There was a tense silence right after he finished speaking. Not even his own teammates seemed willing to say anything else.

No matter. He was willing to wait this out for now.

He didn't have to wait long.

"From herself, eh?" Yang muttered, the blonde looking confused by that. "What do you mean by that?"

"…Blake, regardless of whatever secrets she has, simply isn't the kind of person to so eagerly run off," he started to explain. "Not without any regret, that is. I highly doubt the White Fang would've let her leave so simply, meaning she must have run away from them. But rather than run back to wherever she may have come from or to somewhere where she could live in solitude, she chose to come to Beacon instead. She wouldn't have done that without some kind of reason."

Indeed. He'd known not her circumstances when he first saw her the night before initiation, but she'd struck him as someone with a goal beyond simply becoming a huntress, a goal that he'd practically felt the determination to achieve radiating off her. Just because she evidently didn't have much of a clue on how to achieve said goal didn't diminish that drive of hers.

This was something he could sympathize with, for he was the same in that regard. It was because of this that he found himself rather unphased by the fact she'd once been a White Fang member.

She may have committed criminal acts during her time with the group, but her current actions indicated to him now in hindsight that she clearly regretted it all. Why else would she seem to have come to Beacon for a clean slate?

Whatever she may have done had likely been truly horrible, but it was also in the past now, forever set in stone therefore unchangeable. What mattered now was the present and the future.

If she sought some form of redemption, then he'd no reason to be so wary and doubtful of her like the others currently were. Certainly, such a path would long and arduous, but the sins of the past shouldn't forever brand her as 'evil.'

It was more than just actions – past, present, and future – that mattered to him. Intent, also past, present and future, held great significance to him too.

And more than that…

"In the end, she needs help, just as you do," he muttered. "It's only natural for me to provide it to the best of my ability."

Though he'd uttered those words quietly, more to himself than anyone else, it seemed the others heard him nonetheless, for they were struck truly speechless.

But only for a moment.

"U-Uhm!" Ruby started, standing up as tall as she could. Which wasn't to say very much, but there was no denying the sudden resolve in her silver eyes. "Blake ran off in that direction – deeper into Vale's shopping district. And about your other question, uh, well… Blake likes fish a lot?"

Jaune locked eyes with his fellow leader and nodded in thanks. "…Alright," he said after a second.

Like he'd expected, it really wasn't much to work with, but it was better than absolutely nothing. He and his team at least had an area with which to look in and since it didn't seem as if any member of team RWBY were very familiar with Vale, that likely ruled out Blake heading to any specific places.

But fish, hmm? If by that, Ruby meant that Blake loved eating fish – definitely a possibility; Faunus, though some try to deny it, tend to have taste buds associated with the animal traits they have for some reason – then it was possible that Blake may head to some seafood place for comfort food if nothing else.

Jaune stood up. Though he himself was scarcely aware of it, he had a small smile on his face. "In that case, we should get started already. Come on, guys, let's go. We'll do a sweep of the west side of the shopping district. The north side too."

He was already turning to leave, his teammates sitting there with looks of surprise and fluster about them.

"A-Ah, w-wait just a moment, Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she hastily got out of her seat, with Nora and Ren swiftly following.

He obliged his friend by doing just that – waiting a moment, that is. This also gave him the time to look back at team RWY to see them still seated there, looking more than a little shocked by how sudden hos actions must have been.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to get started on looking too?"

His words jolted them into standing up, though not into leaving just yet.

"I…" Weiss began, only to stop, the heiress at a loss for words.

Yang, however, wasn't. "Just how can you roll with this so well?" she asked, not hiding her disbelief one bit. "Hell, you already have a plan!"

"Like I said," he replied. "You'll never have answers and closure if you don't try. Your feelings about her are clearly conflicted right now… and that'll never change unless you find her and sort this all out."

Yet another moment of silence passes by as they seem to digest his words.

Then…

"Come on, Weiss, Yang," Ruby said, the girl now sporting a softly determined expression. But the small yet hopeful smile on her face served to highlight said resolve even more. "We got a runaway to find."

"…Heh, you got that right, sis," Yang said, her normally large grin returning.

Weiss huffed. "Fine. It wouldn't do to let her get away without a stern talking-to anyways."

Ruby's smile grew with each word. "Go on ahead, guys," she said to Jaune and his team. "We'll take the south and east sides of the district. After that, we should call and figure out what to do afterwards. Unless one of us find her first."

Jaune nodded. "Got it."

He then glanced towards his own friends and saw similar expressions of resolve now on their faces. Though not quite as close to Blake as the runaway's own team was to her, they still considered the Faunus a good friend.

They may have been just as shocked and hurt to learn of Blake's prior time as part of the White Fang, but now they looked just as determined to get answers from the girl herself about all this.

With all of them now on the same page, team JNPR strode out to begin their search.

* * *

It's been a few hours since she'd gone into Vale with her team, meaning it's been a few hours since, in a moment of thoughtless anger, she'd revealed one of her greatest secrets.

And that in turn meant it's been a few hours since she's run off from her own team… the shame and regret gnawed at Blake like crazy.

To think the day had started off so well too.

It'd just been like any other day so far, waking up and having a little fun trying to see who can get into the bathroom to freshen up first, followed then by yet another light-hearted breakfast before heading out into Vale.

It'd been meant to be just like any other outing, though with the added 'benefit' of checking out the students that were to already be arriving in long preparation for getting used to Beacon before the Vytal Festival began. This was, of course, Weiss' idea, the girl always looking for a leg up on someone if it meant getting the best possible result.

But then, it all had taken a sudden turn when they'd come across the police sectioning off the outside of a Dust shop… that had apparently been raided by the White Fang.

That one little thing had been all that was needed to spark an argument between her and Weiss. The latter, as expected of a Schnee, had labelled the White Fang a bunch of criminal degenerates and had even hinted at all Faunus being the same. Blake, naturally, had opposed this – the White Fang, though misguided, were not criminals like Weiss, the spoiled heiress, proclaimed them to be.

Blake stopped her thoughts right there and sighed.

"I… I need to stop thinking like that," she murmured.

Just because she was a Schnee didn't necessarily make Weiss a bad person like she'd once naively believed. The white-haired girl may be uppity, spoiled, and stuck-up in general, but she had a handful of genuinely positive traits to her too as she's come to learn during these past few weeks. And she was clearly getting better at a steady pace, her partnership with Ruby doing wonders for her.

However, Blake simply couldn't stand the way the W of the team had so quickly and vehemently condemned the White Fang, so much so that it had been during that argument that she'd made the truly horrible mistake of revealing she'd once been a part of the group.

And what did she do in that moment of horrified silence thereafter? Did she steel herself and explain things? No, she ran, just as she'd done before from the White Fang… and from Adam.

Now here she was, having wandered a fair distance away from where her team – if she could even call them that anymore – had been, scroll turned off and slinking amongst the shadows in the back alleys.

Said alleys were quite dirty but considering all the missions she'd been on for the White Fang, she was used to it.

Just what was she to do now? To think too that she'd found herself growing genuinely fond of team RWBY since their formation. Her friendship with Yang had grown close especially since that time in Forever Falls. And now here she is repaying that kindness with just dashing off.

She sighed yet again. "Now what?"

"Mmmmaaayyyybe hang out with me?"

She nearly leapt out of her skin when she heard that voice, then spun around, shifting into a combat stance. It wasn't until her hand started going to her waist that she realized she'd left Gambol Shroud back in her rocket locker.

A rookie mistake, being without a weapon like that.

But a forgivable one, considering who the person now hopping off the roof of the nearby building was.

"You're that guy…" Blake said with narrowed eyes.

There, now standing before her, was the monkey Faunus that she and her team and encountered earlier when checking out the ships docking – a stowaway.

And she could see the tanned blond hadn't bothered buttoning up his shirt since then.

"Yep! That's me!" he said chipperly.

"Are you following me?" Blake asked aggressively.

The blond didn't immediately respond, which was pretty damning for him. "…Kinda?" Blake prepared to attack him with her bare hands if need be. Seeing this, he held up his hands placatingly. "Whoa, easy there! I just – uh, well… okay yeah, don't have much of good excuse for that."

"Try anyways," she growled out. If need be, she could switch on her scroll just long enough to summon her weapons. She'd just have to hold out long enough to do so.

"W-Well, you just seemed like an interesting person is all. Plus, we Faunus got to look out for another from time to time, right?"

"You could tell?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, did you really think your bow was gonna completely cover your ears and their twitching?"

Blake's eyes twitched at that. Had it really been that obvious?

If this guy noticed her annoyance, he ignored it and continued. "Well, anyways, I'd still been in the area avoiding the cops when I saw you run off, so-!"

"So you stalked after me." Blake's finishing of his sentence had been markedly flat.

The guy clearly couldn't come up with a good comeback to that, so his shoulders sagged. "Okay, you got me there. I just thought you looked like a cool, interesting girl. And again, sometimes we sort of have to stick together and – w-wait, hey!"

Blake had simply huffed and turned around, already walking away from this stalker of hers. "I'd much prefer to be alone."

"Aw come one, don't be that way! Holding it all inside isn't gonna help!" he said as he lightly jogged after her.

He had a point, but she wasn't going to admit to it that easily. "I'll be the judge of that."

The guy caught up with her, his monkey tail swishing behind him lightly. "Then at least let me just hang out with you. I, uh, kind of came here to Vale ahead of my team so I don't really have anywhere to go or do on my own until then…"

Blake glanced his way without slowing her stride. Peering into his eyes, she deduced that he didn't seem to have any malicious intention.

Thus, all she could do was sigh yet again. "Do what you want, just don't pester me so much."

The guy smiled brightly. "Alright! By the way, name's Sun, Sun Wukong! And you're…?"

"…Blake," she said.

"Blake… that's an awesome name," the guy – Sun – commented, with that same dopey smile. Was this guy going to try flirting with her now? She hoped not; she really wasn't in the mood.

But this guy clearly didn't seem intent on leaving her side anytime soon. Or shutting up when she really just wanted to keep sulking.

"Man, let me tell you, Blake, it was hard as hell sneaking aboard that ship! Nearly got busted just getting on it and had a lot of close calls while on it too. I dunno if it's because ship security is just getting that much stricter now or if it's because of the Dust shipments that'll be coming in soo- whoa!"

Blake, upon hearing his little story, suddenly stopped and was now almost up in his face, her eyes wide with shock and a little something else.

Sun blushed like crazy at the sudden closeness and sort of stumbled back, but Blake paid this no mind at all.

"Say that again," she demanded.

"Uh…" Sun was looking pretty awkward now. "About nearly getting bus-?

"No, not that! What you just started mentioning at the end!"

"O-Oh, you mean the Dust stuff?" Sun asked, only to balk a bit at Blake's now annoyed expression. "Ah, well it was just something I overheard here and there on the ship. I guess some huge Dust shipment from the SDC is coming in tomorrow or something. I guess all the attacks the White Fang – that you were a part of too, right? Sorry, kind of lied earlier, did follow you and your team and overheard the whole argument and- w-wait, don't hit me!"

"Will you stay on track?!" Blake said, her normally solid grasp on her temper fading rapidly. Today really just wasn't a good day for her. Having a guy that had now evidently been stalking her since the beginning really wasn't helping her.

"Okay, okay!" Sun all but pleaded for mercy before she could even get physical in the first place. "Anyways, I guess with the feud the SDC has going on with the White Fang and the Dust robberies that had been going on here in Vale, the SDC pulled some strings and was able to get security really amped up – docks are to be cleared of people except for authorized personnel to handle the shipment offloading or something. Also, I guess any other ships that were heading to Vale before or near the same time as the shipment were to be thoroughly inspected in case the White Fang tried pulling some totally new stunts to attack SDC property."

As Sun rambled on about this, Blake felt whatever tension and sadness she'd been feeling quickly disappear.

This… this right here could be the answer!

Everyone, especially Weiss, believed the White Fang to be the ones behind the recent string of Dust robberies she's heard about. She believed otherwise, for there was just no way the group would ever sink that low. For all their faults, they still had standards, right? Right?

In which case, all she had to do was get proof that it wasn't the White Fang doing these robberies. And what better way of proving it than to show them _not_ going after such a big target?

Her spirits lifting ever so lightly, Blake felt something akin to a plan forming in her mind. She looked to Sun. "You said the shipment would be coming in tomorrow?"

"More or less, yeah."

Blake stared ahead blankly.

It was roughly half a minute before a small yet hopeful smile blossomed onto her face.

Little did she know, this smile, combined with her own natural beauty, bewitched Sun who could only stand there silently and dumbly.

This may not get her back into RWBY's good graces… but if nothing else, it'll show that the White Fang isn't as bad as Weiss and others like her believe them to be.

That alone would be good enough.

* * *

 **I'm fully aware Blake's train of thought there is horribly naïve and is a good example of insane troll logic to an extent but do keep in mind that she thought along the same lines in the show itself. Granted, in the show, heading to the docks and watching over the shipment was more for her own personal vindication than anything else, but it was to also potentially rub it in Weiss' face back then too, or at least that's how it came across to me when I watched it back then.**

 **Hope it makes sense to you.**

 **Also, you'll notice that things are happening just a bit more quickly than in canon. Again, I fiddled with the timeline just a bit in order to speed things up. As I once stated before, pretty much the entirety of volume 1 was just set-up for them fully blossoming into team RWBY (with debatable results in my opinion), with the dock incident more of a slight indicator of Cinder's plans during volumes 2 and 3.**

 **Since there's no sense in dragging it out any longer than the show did, I just felt it best to bump it up by a day, especially since we've all bore witness to the same general series of events playing out in numerous fics anyways.**

 **What matters to me in situations like this is having a brief but poignant glimpse at how the characters feel and interact before moving onto the figurative meat of the fic, so to speak. Again, hope this makes sense and is to your liking, fellow readers.**

 **Besides, if you'll allow my brutal honesty, I'm much more interested in getting to the original content planned for this fic and not the rehash of events from canon, no matter what sort of spin I put on it, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care! Hope you'll look forward to what'll happen next!**


	8. Chapter 8

Just as I said I would, I got myself a PS4 and DMC5 along with it. And having had some time to do the first half of the missions (up to mission 10 as of this chapter being finished), I have to say I'm fucking loving it! While my skill at the game is truly atrocious due to how long it's been since I've ever touched a console game of any kind, much less a DMC game, relearning my usual style of combat had been easy enough, plus it helps that buying the necessary moves within the game have been quick thanks to how many red orbs one can get from thoroughly playing through each mission on top of how well one does.

Have to say, DMC5 truly was well worth the wait and then some. Nero is much more fun to play than he was in 4; V, while taking me quite some time to fully get used to, is pretty fun to play as well; Dante, of course, goes without saying really – he's just a combo machine once you really get the hang of him.

Bosses so far have been fairly challenging, at least for me, and have some interesting designs. Though the lack of dialogue/immediately given lore for most of them is kind of a let down, but eh, I can roll with it.

Heh, have yet to even get halfway through the game, much less fully complete everything, but it's already giving me some ideas for a DMC fic or two, crossovers of course. Whether or not I'll ever go through with them is up in the air though… but man, it'd be awesome to write a DMC fic again. Maybe one day, I'll go through with it, but no guarantees.

I could keep going on about the game, from its simple but interesting story to the gameplay to the visuals and music and so on, but I'll try to stop myself here, ha ha.

Now then, let's just get right onto the chapter!

Chapter 8

Blake picked out the best spot she could on the docks to watch for when the shipment would come in, but it wasn't easy.

Just as her new 'partner' had said, security had really been ramped up in preparation for the SDC shipment, no doubt paid for personally by Jacques Schnee himself, that pathetic snake of a man. Thanks to all the new security personnel patrolling the entire area, sneaking in and moving around had been rough going, even for her. She was just thankful Sun knew when to be quiet when it mattered and didn't cause any fumbles in their sneaking.

Must be because of his experience stowing away, she guessed.

But now that they've settled in for the day, her fellow Faunus felt it was finally time to speak again, much to her consternation.

"There a reason why we're here-?"

"To watch for the shipment, obviously," she hissed, more than a little miffed. Seriously, he freaking told her about all this in the first place and he couldn't remember that much?

"No, I know that," he said, finally sounding a little defensive in response to her snappishness. "You didn't let me finish: why are we here so early?"

At that, Blake winced just a little, feeling slightly guilty but not offering an apology. She was stubborn like that.

"It's just how things are," she explained quietly, keeping watch for any patrols that may be heading in their general direction.

"Something the White Fang taught you, I guess?"

"Yes," she replied and intending for that to comprise the entirety of her answer, but at Sun's inquisitive look, she grunted silently and decided to continue before he kept on talking. "Once they became known for going after SDC members and equipment, it wasn't uncommon for transportation routes to be suddenly changed up at the last minute or for decoys to be sent out first to try fooling us. Time changes also weren't out of the question either, meaning we'd often have to wait well in advance just in case the transports we targeted passed through earlier than we've learned or later."

Hence why they'd gotten here so early in the morning when the shipment was supposed to arrive in the evening.

Was this a little extreme? Perhaps, even for her. But she felt like too much was at stake to hold off on coming here later on. What if the shipment did arrive early? Or didn't arrive at all? She wouldn't know if she'd taken the risk of showing up later to try confirming, especially since she'd have no way of knowing for sure aside from visual contact. After all, she didn't have any recon aid like she did back then.

In all honesty, she'd been tempted to camp out here last night, but had reluctantly opted against it if only because the steady influx of transfer students from the other academies had occupied the docks most of the time yesterday. So, instead she'd merely found a place to hole up in and rest, though Sun had made that difficult too due to his constant questioning and the like.

"Huh, okay. That makes sense," he commented as he poked his head out of their hiding spot, a cramped little spot in between shipping containers, to look for any patrols. Seeing nothing to worry about, he shifted into a more comfortable position across from her. "But I gotta ask now… you're doing this to try and prove it's _not_ the White Fang behind these Dust thefts, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, what'll you do if it turns out it is them doing it?"

"It's not them!" she hissed out, defensively.

The monkey Faunus had been nothing but patient with her all of yesterday and this morning, but now even he was looking a little worn out from her attitude. "Jeez, calm down. Why are you so defensive about them, anyways?"

Blake didn't answer at first, instead looking at Sun as if he just grew a second head. "A-Aren't you…? Aren't you aware of their history?" She couldn't help but sound incredulous for some reason.

"A little." Sun folded his arms across his chest. "Started out peaceful, but then turned to violence when things didn't really go their way, yeah?"

Blake tried not to bristle at his insensitive words, even if he likely hadn't meant it that way.

But even so, how could she not be angry? She recalled once upon a time her father telling her reluctantly of how the White Fang had shifted to what it is today.

She remembered her father telling her how his group had been attacked when they'd merely been transporting some goods between places. This had been back when protests had been all the White Fang did; they were simply passing through, not causing any trouble… and yet racist humans had attacked them anyway.

And it'd been this that broke the camel's back for most of the Faunus that had been there that day. And when news of the attack upon their high leader, her father at the time, had spread to the rest of the group, they'd been absolutely livid. Combined with all the indignities and discrimination they'd put up with until then, they'd finally had enough.

And so began their shift into the organization the public now knows them as.

Was this a change Blake was proud of? No, not really, not anymore. But she's given her life to the group back then and even though she's left it, she was hard-pressed to truly condemn it.

They were just misunderstood…

Realizing her temper was flaring and that she was on the verge of shouting at Sun, Blake took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Now wasn't the time to be chewing him out.

Even so…

"The White Fang is nowhere near as bad as the media would have people believe," Blake said neutrally, but there was also a hint of desperation there too. "There's lines not even they would cross."

Sun looked at her, bewildered. "But… they've raided SDC facilities and derailed transports," he said. "They've bombed places that don't allow Faunus and even killed some members of the SDC from what I've heard… so is Dust robbery really that big a deal in comparison?"

He said those words with all the simplistic confusion and innocence one might hear from a child.

And it was enough to make Blake freeze.

The logical part of her told her this was all true. Ever since the radicalization of the White Fang, every member, from the frontline ones such as herself and Adam to even the support members, had committed their fair share of crimes for one reason or another, had fought in actual battles for the sake of equality.

And just because they've fought for a righteous cause didn't necessarily excuse what they've done? After all, didn't she leave precisely because Adam and others like him within the group were starting to take things too far?

…No. No!

She shook her head several times.

Even if they were steadily becoming worse, there's no way they would've stooped this low so quickly.

There was just no way… right?

The skeptical look on Sun's face was telling her otherwise.

Quickly, she looked away from him, suddenly unable to find it in her to bear looking into his questioning eyes any longer.

The shipment. She just had to focus on that for now. Once it came in, she'll have her answer.

But what ever shall she do afterwards?

Her heavy heart grew heavier at the thought.

It made waiting for nightfall all the more unbearable. But she persevered nonetheless.

* * *

Ruby had woken up bright and early today, not something she normally did on a weekend. Heck, even on a weekday, waking up early to get ready for class was rough, rougher than even fighting Grimm it felt like.

But today, she'd done so without a single compliant. So had the rest of her team, actually.

Why? Simple, to keep looking for Blake, of course.

And they hadn't been the only ones to wake up a little earlier than usual either.

"Thanks again, Jaune," she said to her fellow leader as they walked side by side off the bullhead, other students disembarking along with them.

"You're welcome," he replied simply, the soft tone of his voice making her smile and feel all warm inside.

The feeling only lasted a moment, however, before trepidation set in. "I just hope we can find a clue on where she went soon…"

Yesterday, their search hadn't turned up anything, sadly enough. Even though both her team and Jaune's had spent a few hours doing as thorough a sweep of the market district and the seafood places as they could, they hadn't spotted hide nor hair of the B of team RWBY. Looks like Blake had either suspected they might go searching for her and took appropriate measures or simply ran further than they'd thought she would.

Either way, they'd all gone back to Beacon more than little dejected… except for Jaune, who'd merely said he'll help them out tomorrow, completely undeterred by their failure. And sure enough, that's exactly what he was doing.

However, things hadn't quite gone as well as they'd have liked already.

Yang, in her haste to go looking for Blake, had ended up running a bit too quickly around campus and ended up crashing into professor Goodwitch, a collision that had somehow resulted in some papers the professor had been carrying being torn up beyond recognition.

Yang was now being forced to help the professor as punishment. Weiss had reluctantly stayed behind to help out as well in the hopes they'd finish faster and join the search.

As for Jaune's team, Nora had apparently overeaten during dinner last night in addition to having more than a few late-night snacks for energy and now her stomach was paying the price.

Ren was busy taking care of her while Pyrrha was stuck with cleaning up the, ah, mess Nora had made when she couldn't make her way to the toilet fast enough whilst holding back the bile.

Because of this, it was only the two leaders who were able to head out so early into Vale right now.

Not that Ruby was particularly bothered by this – if anything, it felt oddly nice for it to be just her and Jaune. After all, he'd kinda-sorta been her first friend made at Beacon (Weiss didn't count since she was so crabby those first few days).

That he was so dependable while also being so cool and strong despite only having two simple swords as his weapons was just icing on top of an already good cake.

Huh, that didn't really sound like a good analogy there. Or was it called a metaphor? Ruby never could get those things straight.

Anyways, she was just glad to have someone reliable by her side right now. Though she's had a day to process it all, it was still hard for her to fully come to terms with what had happened.

Blake, one of the few friends she had, was a former member of the White Fang, the same group of bad guys that she usually saw being talked about in the news. It was just too much for her little mind to fully take in.

But like Jaune had said yesterday, she and her team weren't going to get to the bottom of this unless they found Blake and talked with her first.

So, she put on her best game face and prepared herself for what would likely be another long day ahead.

"So what now, Jaune?" As yesterday had proven, he had some level of expertise in tracking. Even though nothing had truly come of it, he'd been the one to come up with some kind of basic plan in the first place. That counts for a lot.

"All we can do for now is just pick up from where we left off yesterday," he replied. "We will have to go deeper into Vale, most likely…. But maybe before doing that…"

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face and Ruby waited patiently as he seemed to mull things over.

While he thought, Ruby ended up doing a quick sweep of the area in with the childish hope that she'd see Blake, however reluctantly, walking right back this way to head back to Beacon.

Obviously, this was a childish hope for a reason – Blake was nowhere in sight.

However, plenty of people were already milling about this early in the day here in downtown Vale, shops opening up and customers quick to be the first ones in there.

Plenty of them were looking hers and Jaune's way.

Well, more Jaune's than hers, really and with reason:

He was armed.

There, by his sides, his blades naturally hung, the obsidian colored sheaths somehow standing out to the public's collective eye despite Jaune's equally dark clothing. Must be because the rest of Vale was rather colorful in comparison, making it stand out.

Well, that, and it was only natural for civilians to be wary around any armed person, regardless of who it was.

Though it wasn't illegal for huntsmen to go around with their weapons out in the open, it was somewhat frowned upon to carry them so openly. Made the public wary about a fight breaking out.

Ruby had her precious baby on her, but it was in its compact form, tucked away behind her back and concealed somewhat by her cloak, so the civilians around her wouldn't have too much reason to be wary of Crescent Rose.

Jaune, however, did nothing to conceal his swords and it seemed to unnerve some people slightly, enough to make Ruby worry if maybe they'd be stopped at some point and told to cover up their weapons better or return to Beacon.

She really didn't like the idea of that happening – every second counted in looking for Blake.

Thankfully, nothing actually happened, at least not yet.

"I just had a thought," Jaune said, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. "You said she took offense to what Weiss had been saying?"

"Y-Yeah," Ruby responded with a wince, remembering the argument between Weiss and Blake so well. Back then, it'd seemed harmless enough if pretty darn tense… but now, thinking about it made it seem so obvious to her about Blake's former affiliation. "It's what got her so riled up and spilled the beans."

"If she got so defensive about the White Fang," Jaune began. "Then maybe she'd try to clear their name of these Dust robberies?"

Ruby froze at that, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process. Jaune immediately reached out with a hand to help steady her. A slight blush of embarrassment formed on her face over this, but her embarrassment wasn't enough to keep her from thinking now.

What Jaune just said made a lot of sense. Like, _a lot._

And if that was true, then…

"Blake must be keeping an eye out for any easy to hit Dust shops!" she nearly exclaimed, only to try and make it sound like a loud whisper instead. They were out in public after all.

Jaune nodded. "Or," he started to add. "She may take to watching any Dust shipments that may be coming in anywhere."

Right… right! How had she not thought of that?! Oh, right, sadness, depression, the whole she-bang. But man, and she called herself a leader? She still had a long way to go, it seemed.

But that self-reflection stuff could wait until later. She first had a teammate to find!

Feeling much more energetic now, Ruby had to actively keep herself from bouncing in place. "What're you thinking now?"

Though not quite as enthusiastic as her, at least not in the same bubbly way, Jaune was looking much more alert now.

"Pretty much every Dust shipment comes from Atlas thanks to the SDC. From there, the Dust is transported to the various Dust shops and so on and so forth. Would make the docks a pretty big target now that I actually think of it…"

"But," Ruby started. Her silver eyes narrowed in thought. "While that sounds like a lot of Dust, there's no way it all comes on the same ship, right?"

"Not always, at least as far as I've ever heard. Orders for Dust always come in at different times, after all, so waiting to ship out all the Dust when places need it as soon as possible wouldn't be efficient."

Well, that would rule out the White Fang – assuming it's actually them stealing it, Ruby hastily added within her thoughts – going on a stealing spree along the docks. She was no criminal mastermind, but hitting multiple shipments coming in like that seems impractical.

In which case…

"Whoever is truly behind the Dust thefts would target the biggest possible Dust shipment there is," Jaune concluded.

"Then that means Blake must be thinking along the same lines too," Ruby mumbled. "Which means she might be looking around the docks?"

Jaune nodded. "Only one way to find out at this point. Come on, let's check."

Invigorated for good now, Ruby was quick to take the lead, blitzing past Jaune with her semblance. "Come on, come on!" She felt a large smile threaten to split her face open right now, for the first time feeling truly upbeat since yesterday.

Jaune merely smiled, softly, and quickly dashed after her, his speed surprising her a little.

However, the two of them simply couldn't run at full speed in Vale like this, so they had to slow down a bit along the way as to avoid accidentally bowling over any civilians.

Even so, Ruby's alive and determined smile remained.

They finally had a clue on where to search – the docks.

And just how hard could it be to check that place out?

* * *

"-ake. Blake!"

The B of team RWBY, startled, woke up with a rather fitful start, nearly falling onto her face in the process.

"Sorry. You alright?" asked a sheepish Sun, who'd been the one to shake her awake.

Ashamed at having fallen asleep at her self-determined post – she knew she should've tried to sleep better last night – Blake got up and waved off his mild concern. "What happened? Did anything change? Is the Dust here?"

Her rapid-fire questions took Sun slightly aback, but the monkey Faunus had seemed to have gotten used to how she is today and merely rolled with it now.

"Kinda," he started. "Take a look – the docks are clear now."

It was early night now and getting darker by the minute, but as Faunus, both of them had excellent night vision and were thus unbothered by the darkness.

Poking her head out of their spot, Blake narrowed her eyes at how deserted the area looked.

No way all that security from earlier would've cleared out like that. "When did this happen?"

"Just a minute or two ago," Sun answered. "They were all doing their usual thing, but then it seemed like they all got an important message over their radios and hightailed it somewhere."

Blake accepted that answer silently and decided to take the risk of moving out of cover and looking around some more and saw no one.

The dock was all but deserted now.

Narrowing her eyes, she hopped from one cargo container nearby to another until she was atop the tallest stack of them. Sun hastily followed after her and once up there, they crouched low and used their new bird's eye point of view to check out the entire area.

It was as if it was suddenly a ghost town, err, ghost dock; no one seemed to be around anymore.

"Well, that's totally not freaky," Sun commented.

"…What else happened while I was asleep?" Blake asked.

"The Dust came in-."

Blake whirled around and glared at him. "And you didn't wake me up for that?!"

Sun merely held up his hands placatingly and continued. "When the Dust came in, nothing happened, Blake. The ship came in, security watched as the dock workers offloaded it and that was that. See all those right there? That's all the Dust."

Looking in the direction he just pointed in, Blake turned and glanced at several small stacks of cargo containers nearby. She squinted at them, immediately noticing the differences between them and the other ones here.

Though not too obvious from this far away, she could make out the fresh paint job on those containers versus the ones she and Sun were on, which had faded or peeling bits of paint, from both age and use.

Compared to these worn-down cargo containers, the much newer and pristine looking ones stood out.

Ah, to be expected of Atlas, she supposed. And to be expected of the SDC too. Though they didn't bear the SDC logo or any kind of logo from Atlas, the simple fact they looked so new and fresh was all it took to know it came from that kingdom.

Blake grimaced.

She wasn't liking this one bit.

She'd initially thought whoever was truly behind these Dust thefts would've attacked the ship when it was on route to Vale or when it docked. But that the ship was able to leave without any hassle was unexpected. Combined with the complete lack of security while the Dust just sat there in the open…

Something was just about to happen.

And sure enough, as if to mock her…

"H-Hey, look! There's a bullhead incoming!" Sun pointed out.

There in the far-off distance, well away from downtown Vale, was a bullhead. Somehow, it looked a little larger than the average one and rather than fly in a single straight line, it was seemingly making its way here via a circular path.

Blake knew it wouldn't do that unless it was trying to avoid visual detection. It helped that it was sporting a darker than usual paint job to blend in with the night.

A moment later, it flew low over the water as its flightpath briefly took it out over the water and eventually touched down on the docks itself, the deserted area providing it with more than enough open space to comfortably land.

The bullhead stayed on, ready to take off again from the looks of it.

But the people aboard now disembarked.

And the sight of all too familiar outfits and a certain symbol was enough to make Blake silently gasp.

"No…" she whispered weakly, feeling her heart practically drop into her stomach.

Members of the White Fang poured out of the bullhead in single file lines before spreading out. They easily numbered at over a dozen members and even more began to pour out, each one armed with assault rifles and looking more than a little eager to shoot if necessary.

"Blake…" Sun began, the awkward and cheerful blond looking solemn now. "I'm sorry… but I think you're going to have to accept reality now."

"I…" she began, then pausing and gulping.

Emotions warred within her, her naïve hope that it hadn't been the White Fang after all struggling to stay alive in the face of her sense of logic and the reality clearly visible before her eyes.

Her shoulders hunched up and then slumped a moment later in complete defeat.

"…Deep down," she started, unable to do anything other than watch as the White Fang crew spread out and headed right for the Dust shipments. "I always knew it'd come to this. It's just like you said earlier, Sun – if they'd reached the point of bombing buildings and assassinating SDC members, then robbery like this… it definitely wouldn't have bene out of the question. It's just… I wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, they still hadn't degenerated this much."

Hadn't she left the group precisely because they'd started to take things too far? Just why did she even bother leaving them if she couldn't even bring herself to truly admit this after the fact?

She looked to him and for the first time, apologized. "…I'm sorry. I've forced you through quite a bit."

Sun smiled slightly. "Hey, no need for that. Wouldn't have come along if I was that against it." His smile lasted only for a second longer. "But seriously, what now? Wanna jump in there and stop them? Not to sound mean again, but I'm not exactly a big fan of terrorist groups getting away with things like this."

Blake slowly nodded, her sadness and despair giving way to a solemn determination. She'd ran because she couldn't face what the White Fang had become. But running away didn't change the fact they'd only continue to spread out through the kingdoms and carry on with their actions.

It would've only been a matter of time until she encountered them anyways.

Silently thankful to have called her rocket locker – she never would've thought it'd actually be useful – before she and Sun have even come to the dock in the first place, she was armed with Gambol Shroud and she now reached for her blades with steadying hands.

Only to pause before drawing her swords when a voice rang out from down below, a voice she never expected to hear.

"Come on, already! Can you filthy animals hurry up the pace a bit! We're on a deadline, you know!" yelled out an arrogant voice as a flamboyant looking man walked off the bullhead now, twirling a cane around in his right hand. When some of the White Fang members bristled at his words, he merely scoffed. "Oh don't give me those looks – you lot are the ones that need my brilliant self here to keep this trudging along!"

Roman Torchwick.

She's seen his face plastered enough times on the news to recognize him on spot. And his very presence was enough to make Blake's determination turn to anger.

He was a well-known Faunus hater, yet another thing about him that made him thoroughly unlikeable, his other criminal acts aside.

That this man of all people would be working with the White Fang…

This would not stand!

"H-Hey, Blake, wait-!" Sun cried out.

But it was already too late; she jumped into action.

This not being the first time she's pulled a stunt like this, Blake was able to easily calculate the distance and planned her jump accordingly, landing right behind Roman as he was fully entered the open with nary a sound.

Immediately, she drew her blades and put one to his neck and the other to his back.

Only then did he seem to take notice of her. And so did the White Fang as they carried out entire crates packed with Dust.

"Oh, for fu-," Roman began, annoyed. Only Blake cut him off by further moving her blade closer to his neck. It was only thanks to his aura that her blade didn't risk drawing blood, though that could change if she sliced with enough force.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" she yelled out, making sure to get all their attention even as some dropped the Dust crates to draw their guns. "Why do you aid this scum! Have you truly fallen so low?! Don't you remember what your purpose is?!"

Though simple, her words were able to get them to pause for just a moment. Some of those who'd drawn their guns even lowered them a bit.

As for Roman, he merely laughed. "Nice words there, kid, but don't bother. If they're this willing to do things for the 'greater good of Faunus,' then I don't think you're going to be changing their minds that easily."

"Shut up," she hissed. "I'm putting an end to your little operation."

"Little operation? You're funny," Roman said with a grin.

And as if to punctuate those words, two other bullheads, modified to serve more offensive purposes, entered the airspace right above them, their dark paintjobs and impressive speed having likely caused them to go unnoticed just like the first bullhead had done.

It took Blake by complete surprise. This whole situation was unexpected, but this even more so. It caused her to almost step away from Roman as the bullheads slowed down and looked ready to fire…

This gave the thief the opening he needed to suddenly slam his cane right into her stomach, knocking all the air right out of her.

She stumbled back a little, her arms flailing a little in the process and Roman slipped right out of her grasp for good, spun around and kicked her hard in the chest, knocking her away.

Blake went crashing to the ground but used the momentum to roll and land back on her feet.

"Heh, I guess cats always do land on their feet," he commented as he held in his free hand a certain black ribbon.

Blake twitched as the cool night breeze pushed against her now uncovered cat ears. He must have torn the bow off just when he kicked her.

"You-!"

"Well, don't just stand there, you freaks!" Roman now yelled as he stepped back. "Put her down! Or do you want to be the ones to tell the others you failed your cause!"

The White Fang members flinched at that and readied their weapons again.

Blake prayed like hell they wouldn't actually shoot… only for her prayers to go cruelly unanswered as they did just that.

Multiple assault rifles fired on her with surprising accuracy, forcing her to back up instead of advance towards Roman, who merely grinned arrogantly at her.

She snarled as she focused on deflecting the bullets instead, looking for an opening to exploit.

Sure enough, it came when the gun of one of the White Fang members to her right jammed and provided an opening. Immediately, she dashed to the right and went straight for the man who frantically tried to fix the jam, kneeing him hard in his mask-covered face once she got close enough.

Shame and a mild case of self-disgust filled her as the blow knocked him out but not before he let out quite the cry of pain before hitting the ground.

"Oh, for…! Why can't any of you mutts shoot right?!" Roman groaned out as he now held up his cane. The just barely audible click it made was all Blake needed to hear to know it was more than just a cane.

What she didn't know, or rather couldn't have known, was just how big of a blast that cane could shoot out, easily half the size of her own body.

Her own eyes widened as the shot rushed towards her, its size making it just a bit too hard to avoid outright, but she was still able to somewhat roll out of the way after using her semblance to make a clone and take the hit for her.

Roman fired several more times, the power of his shots no laughing matter and forcing her to dodge ever more, opening up a greater distance between them. The other White Fang members shooting at her weren't helping matters either.

"Alright, good enough! You four, keep grabbing the Dust! The rest of you, keep kitty here busy!" Roman barked out.

"You-!" Blake began, only to stop when the criminal fired one more shot at her.

This time, however, she didn't attempt to dodge like before. Instead, she practically threw herself forward and towards the ground, making a clone to go even further ahead of her to take the hit just in case.

She saw the criminal's eyes blink a bit at that, but just shrug and keep moving on. Meanwhile, the White Fang moved in and spread out some more.

Running directly into gunfire was nothing new to Blake – to one such as herself, bullets weren't _that_ fast. But dodging and deflecting every shot coming her way would be more than a little difficult if she let them start shooting from entirely different directions, like what they were attempting to do now.

So, she'd have no choice but to take them down first… something she felt her heart still wasn't quite ready for just yet, at least not enough to do so without feeling immense guilt.

Thankfully, she was spared this anguish when Sun finally jumped into the fray. "Hey, leave her alone!"

He made quite the entrance as he pulled out his weapon – a red and gold staff of sorts – and slammed it into the ground, the force he put into this maneuver combined with the weapon's gun function being enough to send off a veritable wave of flames that blew everyone back, even almost her too.

Thrown off balance, a few of the White Fang stood no chance against Sun when he charged and literally swept one of them off her feet with a leg sweep before knocking her aside into two others with one swift swing of his staff. He then twirled it around and skipped several inches to his left in one fluid motion, his staff's length allowing him to easily reach across and smack it into the side of another White Fang member's face.

"Go!" Sun then called out, the path forward cleared somewhat.

Blake could only nod her thanks as she put on a burst of speed, leaping forth throw the gap in the White Fang's ranks to reach Roman.

The man in question, having heard Sun's entrance, had turned around to see what was going on and nearly gaped when he saw how close Blake was.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quite shocked enough for Blake to land her initial strike with her right blade as he blocked with his cane, so she made a clone to distract him as she landed by his side and kicked at his ribs. But Roman simply switched his cane to his other hand and blocked her kick with it while simultaneously punching out the clone with his now free hand.

Growling loudly in pure anger, Blake backed off just a foot or two to open enough space to properly use her blades.

Around and around, she dashed and lunged, swinging her blades conventionally and whilst wielding them in reverse grips. But Roman was able to constantly spin and twist both his body and cane to avoid being struck. And all the while, he expertly backpedaled towards the bullhead which was still grounded.

Yelling out in pure frustration, Blake made two clones in rapid succession, the first one made when she tried to circle around Roman's back and the second one came to be when she faked a small jump towards his throat.

The idea was to feint and land a strike to his gut with the heavy yet sharp sheath of her left blade, but nothing came of it as Roman ignored the clones outright and smashed the hilt of his cane into the side of her face.

The hit was surprisingly strong, enough to make her temporarily disoriented and so she was prey to the second strike to her stomach and then to the front of her face, which knocked her onto the ground.

Roman had himself a little laugh when that happened. "Come on, kid, did you really think I wouldn't know how to throw my weight arou-?"

While she recovered, she heard Sun join the fray yet again, cutting off the thief as his weapon – now nun-chuks of all things – lashed out multiple times at the man. And in the midst of his multiple swings, Sun kept on firing with impressive speed, the usage of the weapon's gun function not interfering with his movements.

Even in the midst of her daze, Blake couldn't help but admire the skill her fellow Faunus wielded his weapon with. She could definitely see why he was a huntsman trainee, just as she was a huntress in training.

But not even that was enough to take down Roman, who dodged the buckshot even at point-blank range and deftly used his cane to deflect the swings that should've struck him.

Now back on her feet, though, Blake decided to wipe that smug grin off his face just as he pushed Sun back and managed to hit him finally with the flat side of her sheath, the weight of it enough to now knock the thief down.

"G-Gah, you little-! Fine, I'll give you that one," he grumbled as he immediately started to get back up, massaging his nose. His usual smug smirk took on a much more vindictive quality. "But I still have you outgunned."

Making a little wave with his free hand, the bullheads that had arrived earlier finally made their move, opening fire on the area.

"No!" Blake cried out as they didn't seem to care that the White Fang members currently on the ground were at obvious risk of being struck too, especially the ones that Sun had just dealt with a moment ago. Even the ones that had kept themselves busy grabbing Dust crates now made a frantic dash for cover.

"Blake, look out!"

The trail of heavy gunfire quickly moved her way and in her horror at the sight of her former comrades being nearly gunned down, she just barely even registered the immediate danger. It took a desperate tackle from Sun to avoid being mowed down.

"Don't just stand around and gawk, animals!" Roman called out loudly over the roar of gunfire from the bullheads. "Keep loading! I don't care if you take a bullet or ten! You want the others to be pissed?!"

"Y-You…!" Blake called out, greater rage than anything she's felt before filling her. Even now, this scum would order the White Fang around?! Did he truly not care one bit for their lives, not even for the sake of pragmatism?

Though her voice hadn't been that loud, it still seemed he heard her, for he looked their way derisively. "Hey, not all of us can afford to care for one another. Sometimes, you just gotta focus on the bigger picture here."

"Torchwick!"

Blake froze at the voice that called out during the brief lapse in the bullhead's gunfire.

No way, it simply couldn't be…

But as she looked up to where the voice came from, she saw that it was.

And from the looks of it, it seems Roman was just as surprised as she was.

He let out a heavy sigh.

"Little Red," he greeted less than cordially. "Still out past your bedtime, eh?"

There, atop a nearby warehouse was none other than her team leader, Ruby, herself.

Just what was she doing here?!

And how did she get here this quickly?

What was even going on anymore?!

* * *

"Stop what you're doing right now!"

Roman had to keep from rolling his eyes. He'd been doing this a lot lately during the planning phase of tonight's operation. Surely continuing to do so would only form a bad habit.

That said, Little Red here made it hard not to, especially with that stupidly naïve look on her face. "Really now, Red? You think you can just order me to pack up and leave just like that? You know how hard it was to either bribe or blackmail most of the dock's security to leave?"

And boy, hadn't that little bit been hard to do. It'd taken a lot of work to figure out how to deal with the security detail that had been summoned for the Dust shipment, but thankfully, they were from a security firm he'd dealt with numerous times before, so scrounging up all the juicy info he needed to send them all packing had been easy enough, just long and super tedious.

At least it wasn't actual security from the SDC – that would've been a real pain in the ass to deal with.

Little Red just glared at him, but coming from her, it was more like an amusing pout than anything else.

It was enough to nearly make him snort.

Seriously now. As much of an annoyance as she'd been the first time they met, was this kid really supposed to be a huntress in training? Huntsmen standards sure have fallen a lot, it seems.

"Leave Blake alone! And leave the Dust too, or else we'll take you down right now!" Red yelled as she whipped out that over-compensating scythe of hers. Must be trying to make up for how short she is, Roman assumed.

He cocked his cane at her, ready to fire the second she got distracted. "Yeah, yeah, like I haven't heard all that before."

Roman prepared to say something classy and witty, something to really rile the girl up so he can blast her before she even knew what hit her this time around.

Only to pause.

"Hold up, 'we?'" he murmured.

Was Little Red referring to herself and the two annoying animal teens back there or-?

He got his answer.

Holy hell, did he get an answer.

It came in the form of a wave of blinding light erupting from somewhere near his pesky little intruder. It moved with barely processible speed towards one of the gunships his White Fang mooks had managed to obtain and cleaved it vertically in two near the center of it.

Even from here and over the roar of gunfire from the other gunship that was keeping those other two teens pinned down, Roman could hear the few people inside the cleaved gunship yell out in complete shock and fright as it fell apart and towards the ground.

Given his own proximity to the falling bullhead, Roman scrambled away as quickly as he could, unable to keep from looking back at it.

In doing so, he bore witness to yet another ridiculous thing.

Something – no, some _one_ – leapt from wherever they'd been atop that warehouse near Red and right into the falling bullhead.

And then, just before the destroyed bullhead struck the ground and exploded, that same someone leapt right back out – and carrying atop his shoulders the same very few White Fang grunts that had been in the downed bullhead.

He landed near Roman while everyone else took cover during the bullhead's explosion, even Little Red up top. Even the stupid animals this guy just saved quickly scrambled out of his grasp and away from the now flaming wreckage.

But not this guy.

No, he stepped a little to the side, standing directly in between them all and the destroyed bullhead, even as debris flew all over the place.

Roman, not one to be flat out stumped all that often, outright gaped as he saw some bits of wreckage crash against the guy, who he saw was just a teen like the other annoyances, a blond like that stupid monkey boy.

He saw small bits of debris actually _impale_ him, piercing the back of his shirt and by extension his back itself.

The teen lurched forward a bit, the force of the explosion and the debris pelting him nearly knocking him off his feet.

Except it ultimately didn't – the teen stood his fucking ground with little more than a grimace.

Roman made a sound that might've been a gasp, but not even he knew what it was. What he'd just seen was completely nuts – how come this kid just let that happen?! Was his aura that freakin' weak? Shit, was he even using aura at all?!

As the flames started to die down and the debris stopped flying, he heard Little Red call out in complete worry.

"J-Jaune?!"

The teen – Jaune – seemed to ignore the girl and instead started to step forward now, fixing his initially hunched over posture so that he now stood tall.

And in doing so, expose Roman and the White Fang grunts he saved to the most intense blue eyes he's ever seen, a faded scar on his face only enhancing the intensity that much more.

The teen's hands reached down to his sides, where swords lied strapped to his waist.

He drew them both in one perfect motion and held them out to his sides, ready to strike in a veritable instant.

"Roman Torchwick," the teen called out without so much as a single rasp of pain. It was enough to nearly make the thief shiver.

Just who the hell was this guy?!

"I give you one chance: surrender, right here, right _now_ … or be struck down."

As Roman stared into the teen's eyes, he realized now, quite belatedly, that maybe he should've cut his losses a little earlier.

* * *

 **Though explained in the above AN, again, sorry this took so long to get out, guys. Hopefully, this wait shouldn't happen again, but I can't make any promises. Sorry.**

 **Anyways, how was the chapter, everyone? I did my best to make it appropriately dramatic, especially the ending. Was tempted to do the entire dock scene in this single chapter alone, but that would've been a bit much in page count and I like trying to keep most chapters fairly even in page/word count, at least until the climax of the fic, then I start getting more liberal with that.**

 **A stupid thing, I know, but it's just my little quirk, ha ha.**

 **Now then, to sort of clear up a few things here – Ruby and Jaune taking that long to get to that section of the dock. I'm sure it might seem weird to some of you seeing as they started their search in the earlier part of the day while the incident takes place at night, but I figured given the sheer size of the kingdom of Vale in addition to how essential Dust is to Remnant as a whole, all of the kingdoms would need more than just one section of the dock/coastline to send out/receive shipments of Dust and other supplies.**

 **Also, even though they obviously have the good intention of simply looking for Blake, it's not like Ruby and Jaune would be willing to sneak in and look through _every_ nook and cranny the docks have to offer. So, they had to take things slowly and cover their bases, make sure they weren't stepping on anyone's toes so to speak.**

 **As for the rest of teams RWBY, yes, they do finish up what had them occupied at Beacon and join the search for Blake again, but not until much later in the day and by then, there's only so much area they can search that can be so quickly reached. As for team JNPR, Nora remains sick the rest of the day and Ren stays by her side the whole time while Pyrrha cleans up. And as I'm sure some of you have likely experienced, such incidents can sometimes require a pretty thorough and therefore long cleaning to make better.**

 **All this will be briefly mentioned in the next chapter or two, but just thought I should make this known now to explain in advance in case of any confusion.**

 **All that said, the dock incident will be wrapping up in the next chapter. I'll be putting as much focus as I can on the action without getting too tedious, so that may take a bit of extra time to do, but there's no way to tell just yet how it'll turn out.**

 **In any case, hope you will look forward to it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	9. Chapter 9

Hey there, everyone! Hope you all have been doing well. Apologies for the long gap between the previous chapter and this one, the last chapter for my original novel was a little longer than usual and a bit harder for me to write. Plus, I got a little wrapped up with DMC5. Currently playing Son of Sparda difficulty, by the way. And man, it's still just as effing awesome to play!

You know, random thing here, but it always amazes me how the first playthrough, I always struggle to play even remotely decently, but the very second I start a second playthrough, even if on a higher difficulty, I suddenly have a much easier time doing things in game. Of course, even if that's the case, getting S ranks for all missions sure is a damn challenge, ha ha.

That aside, also just got busy with real life in general. Been looking for a new job still and it seems like something may have turned up, but no choice other than to wait and see now. So yeah, that's what's been going on with me and why it's been this long for this chapter to be written and all that.

Speaking of this chapter, it was also rather hard for me to write since I couldn't quite decide on when to end it and how. That now said, I do believe it turned out satisfactory.

Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 9

Pain was flaring up in his back from the pieces of debris that had hammered and pierced it, but Jaune, like always, ignored it.

He could tell by the expressions on Roman Torchwick's face as well as the faces of the White Fang members here that they were more than a little shocked by this fact. In all likelihood, they were wondering if he even had aura and if so, if he'd neglected to focus on defense.

And they'd be right – unlike every other aura user he's ever met, who keep their aura up as a shield around their bodies, he never bothered with doing so. After all, what point was there in defending himself when he could simply use aura to enhance just his offense and end threats that much faster? Besides, his body was more than tough enough to handle a little injury.

That said…

With a mild grunt, he flexed the muscles in his back as fiercely as he could. In doing so, the pieces of debris embedded in it wiggled and fell out. Blood promptly poured freely from the wounds but slowed down after a few seconds.

The expressions on his potential foes' face would've been comical under different circumstances. But instead, Jaune merely glared at them even more harshly, especially since Roman has yet to respond to his ultimatum just seconds ago.

He took just another step forward – and that was when he finally got an answer.

"Ahhh!" Roman let out a startled yet angry cry as he raised his cane. And then fired a massive shot from it. Because of course it would also be a gun.

Jaune felt absolutely no surprise at this sudden turn of events nor was the criminal's response an unexpected one – the moment he laid eyes on the thief, he'd swiftly ascertained the type of person Roman Torchwick is… and his analysis hadn't been too favorable.

Still, he'd held out hope for just a split second, but now Roman had gone and crushed that hope.

Without missing a beat, Jaune swung with his right sword and sliced the shot straight in two.

Very well then. He'll bring Roman down here and now.

But not before calling out to Ruby. "Get to Blake!" he yelled as loudly as he could for the girl to hear. Whether or not she heard him and will do just that was unknown. Nonetheless, he figured she would much appreciate simply being near her teammate right now.

As he shouted this, Jaune charged right at Roman, but though he seemed to hold the speed advantage, the criminal had managed to get back onto his feet as did a few of the White Fang members he'd rescued from the bullhead he'd taken down.

"Shoot him!" Roman cried and the still somewhat dazed White Fang members did just that.

Alas, they'd done so a little too late, for Jaune was already too close to them. With just a swift spin with his blades, he cut their guns into pieces then did another spin to deliver a roundhouse kick that struck the side of one person's head.

Their whole body rattled from the force and their aura, which must have been quite weak, broke under the impact. They ended up getting sent flying into another White Fang member and both went tumbling several yards to the left.

A pathway now cleared, Jaune ignored the remaining ones that were backing up as to put distance between them and him and headed right for Roman.

And now, the thief headed right for him. Clearly, he'd known what was going to happen and now tried to take him off guard.

This probably would've worked on some other people, but not on Jaune. He's been on the receiving end of such tactics before, during his time in the frontier.

As such, when Roman thrust the end of his cane towards his face and fired, Jaune had already tilted his head to the side, avoiding both the thrust and the blast. Then, channeling aura through his body, he lashed out with his left blade, unleashing a diagonal cut.

The thief, though just barely, was able to roll to the side with a surprising degree of agility. Not that this did him too much good when the sword swing, literally glowing with aura, ended up creating a minor vacuum in the air it had cut through, one strong enough to drag the thief back to Jaune.

The bowl hat wearing criminal could only let out a cry of pure shock as he ended up nearly dragged right into Jaune's path but tried rather admirably to attack anyways.

Due to their proximity and Roman's positioning, Jaune dealt a low kick that hit the criminal right in his stomach, knocking all the air right out of him. Enhanced by aura, it was strong enough to nearly break Roman's own aura completely and launched him several meters, slamming into and through the side of a shipping container.

"Y-You damn monster!" someone cried out – one of the White Fang.

Jaune turned to face said person, not because of the comment but rather because he heard the sound of several guns being cocked. It would seem some of the other members that had come along had finally to deal with him.

The instant he turned, the six White Fang members that had approached opened fire. With nary a change in expression, he spun his swords to effortlessly swat aside all the bullets that came his way.

Right away, he could tell these members were likely the more experienced ones of the entire bunch – their aim was truly excellent. They were also smart enough to maintain a considerable distance from him, seeing him armed with only swords.

The other White Fang members that had already been in the area had also backed up even further and spread out, ready to fire upon him as well from his exposed sides.

Though more than fast enough to deal with all the bullets, he'd end up being pinned down. That wouldn't do; the longer he was kept in place, the more time Roman had to recover and attempt an escape. No doubt the criminal was going to cut his losses now.

Channeling aura into his swords, he spun them yet again to deflect the bullet, the aura in them so powerful that when he struck the bullets, they literally fizzled away into ash.

It also had another benefit-.

"S-Shit, can't see!" one of the White Fang members exclaimed.

Yes, the shining light of his own aura had quickly grown so bright that it made it rather hard for them to aim.

Sure enough, some of them slowed their rate of fire and this gave him the opportunity to move, leaping towards the direction he'd launched Roman in – but not before channeling all his current strength and swinging his right blade horizontally, unleashing the aura he'd channeled into it as a wave of pure power.

It rocketed towards the ground just before the more distance White Fang members and exploded on impact, sending them sailing back from the explosive force, even more debris and dust being blown everywhere.

He could tell most of the White Fang here tonight weren't truly 'evil.' They merely desired equality. Sadly, their methods and hearts were gravely misplaced. Still, they too could find a better path, like Blake had seemingly resolved herself to do.

As for Roman, however…

Reaching the shipping container's hole, he peered in – only to immediately back out when a shot came his way. It struck the very corner of the hole he'd made, blowing off a small piece of the container's metal exterior and sent pieces flying. Some cut into the very side of his face, but he only had to turn just a few millimeters to avoid having his eyes damage and that was all that mattered to him.

Uncaring of the new injuries suffered, Jaune merely lunged at an angle and cut into the shipping container, near its doors. He did so just as Roman, dirtied and with slightly tattered clothes now, kicked said doors open and went running.

"You little-!" Roman growled out upon seeing him, firing yet again.

Jaune cut the blast down and continued forward without a word. He switched his right blade up so that he now held it in a reverse grip and then put on a slight burst of speed, closing the distance between them and slammed said sword's pommel into the side of Roman's face.

The criminal let out a cry of pain, but managed to stay on his feet, using the lurch from the blow to simply speed up.

Jaune then swung his left blade, which he held normally, and cut at the back of Roman's left knee. The criminal's aura, though weak now, was still just strong enough to cushion most of the force and avoid an actual cut, but it still had the desired effect, causing Roman to now stumble and crash.

Unfortunately, Roman ended up crashing in between stacks of shipping containers and the criminal now fired frantically at the ones stacked in the middle. He blew enough holes in them to make them collapse on themselves…

And in turn causing the ones on the very top to now tumble and come crashing down on the two of them.

* * *

When Ruby had started this day, she really, really, _really_ hadn't been expecting things to turn out like this.

As someone whose long since aspired to be a huntress, she was all up for the undoubtedly crazy adventures that naturally came with such a position, but being smack dab in the middle of an organized Dust theft with flames and smoke and a bunch of junk being tossed around everywhere during the night in an otherwise abandoned dock hadn't exactly been something the team leader envisioned.

Being surrounded by and shot at by terrorists also hadn't exactly been on her leader agenda.

Boy oh boy, there sure were a lot of White Fang, weren't there?

Thankfully, her semblance allowed her to effortlessly zig and zag past them all as they tried to regain their bearings and shoot at her, courtesy of Jaune's crazy awesome – but also crazy scary; seriously, he got debris embedded in his back! Is he okay?! – entrance.

With the outfits the White Fang wore, Blake certainly stood out along with a monkey Faunus that Ruby had seen before along with the others, though didn't know his name. Hmm, hadn't the police tried chasing after him for being a stowaway? Huh, she wondered what that was like, being a stowaway.

But those questions could wait for way later.

"Blake!"

"R-Ruby-?!"

She didn't let Blake finished whatever she was about to say, the young team leader literally throwing herself into the B of the team in the form of a hug. Thanks to all her momentum, however, she ended up pretty much tackling Blake to the ground.

The two let out quite the comical cry as they struck cement, though Ruby refused to let go that easily.

"You're okay! You're okay!" Despite all else that was going on, she was beaming so much that it almost hurt more than their fall just now.

"G-Guh, I-I'm fine… Ruby, please let go, I can't really breathe…" Blake wheezed out.

Ruby blushed and let go. "O-Oh, sorry!" She got up and kept a very close eye on Blake as she got up immediately thereafter, eyeing the raven-haired girl so intensely that the blond Faunus next to them couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Ruby pouted, under the impression he was chuckling at her antics. She couldn't help but gaze at Blake so strongly, she wanted to explain – she didn't want to risk the girl trying to run away again, after all.

"You… You actually came looking for me…?" Blake muttered, her disbelief obvious even to the socially awkward Ruby.

"Of course I did – we're friends, aren't we?" Ruby said to her, hands on her hips now.

Blake's expression fell at that. "But… I-I mean…"

Now Ruby's expression fell at that.

Right, the whole ex-terrorist thing. She'd actually forgotten about that for a quick minute.

"Blake… I… I'm not gonna lie, the others and I were pretty surprised by all that. And we're still having a hard time trying to take it all in… but even then, to me, you're still a friend and the B of team RWBY! Yang and Weiss think the same thing too! So please, just please come back to Beacon, okay? We can talk this out!" Ruby pleaded.

At her words, Blake blinked several times, a hesitant hope and joy appearing on her face before giving way to self-pity. "No, I… there's no way it can be that easy, Ruby. Especially not with Weiss…"

At that, Ruby winced. "W-Well, yeah, Weiss took all that pretty badly," she admitted sheepishly. But she then put on her best stern face and continued. "And she's really upset about it. But she's even more upset about you just taking off without bothering to explain it all to us."

Blake looked at her, still uncertain.

"Blake, please… I know it must be hard to talk about. But running away from all this isn't going to make it any better for anyone. We… we just want to be a team again."

Blake winced. Something she just said must've really struck home for the girl, it seemed, for her shoulders slumped.

The girl then opened her mouth slowly, ready to reply. But just before she could, the blond interrupted.

"U-Uhm, not to butt in or anything here," he started sheepishly and then pointed in a certain direction. "But we're probably gonna have to finish up this talk later."

The White Fang members had recovered in full now it seemed and some were rushing towards them while some others tried to salvage some Dust from all this still.

"O-Oh, right!" Ruby promptly turned around to face them and whipped out Crescent Rose. The familiar weight of her baby put her at ease and she put on her game face now.

Behind her, she heard Blake heft her awesome Gambol Shroud while the other guy – oh wow, were those nun-chuks also shotguns?!

"So, how do you wanna do this?" the blond asked.

"I'll take care of the ones going for the Dust with my semblance!" Ruby explained. "Blake and, uh…"

"Sun," the blond helpfully provided.

"Right, Sun! You and Blake take care of the other ones in the meantime! Take them down and knock away their weapons! They don't look like they'll be much trouble without their guns!"

"Right!" both Faunus cried out.

Then without another word spoken, Ruby leapt into action.

And just as she did so, using a shot from Crescent Rose to give herself some initial momentum, two of the shipping container stacks suddenly collapsed in on themselves nearby.

It was a sight that definitely couldn't be ignored by _any_ of them, many of the White Fang turning to gawk at yet another show of destruction going on. Not even Ruby in mid-movement could help but look and gape at everything falling down.

If the bullhead Jaune had cut down didn't grab anyone else's attention out in Vale, then that sure would.

Speaking of said blond… he'd gone after Torchwick. No doubt that tumble must have been due to whatever was going down between the two of them.

Worry gnawed at Ruby's heart now even as she blitzed the members trying to load Dust onto the remaining bullhead, knocking them aside with just a twirl of her baby.

Considering the damage he'd taken from the debris just a moment ago, Jaune couldn't be in good shape and those falling containers definitely wouldn't be helping on that front.

"Please be okay, Jaune…" she mumbled to herself.

With no other choice but to trust in his ability, Ruby continued on with her actions as she then zipped to yet another White Fang member hefting a Dust crate, all while Blake and Sun swiftly launched themselves into the crowd of the other members that tried to open fire on them.

This night was far from over just yet.

* * *

As he slipped out of the falling pile of containers, Roman found himself wishing to hell and back that this night was over already.

"Shit," he groaned out, his usual wits having left him now.

This really wasn't going like he'd thought it would.

"Just steal some Dust, she said. Should be right up my alley, she said," he mumbled as he stumbled forth. "What a bunch of crap!"

The second he'd shot at those containers to bring the stacks down, he'd hightailed out of there as quickly as he could, but clearly not quickly enough. It was only thanks to ducking and leaping through the openings that had presented themselves as the containers fell that he was able to emerge relatively unscathed.

That said, he's seen much better days, his clothes dirtied and torn and with some bruises here and there all over his body. His aura had been worn down so much that even though it could still take another hit or two, it hadn't been able to cushion the hits as well as it should have anymore.

So, in more than just a little bit of pain, the thief grimaced and swore under his breath as he tried to relax a little.

"Damn blond…" he hissed.

The second said blond had appeared on the scene, cutting through the bullhead and all that, it'd gone without saying that things had truly been screwed over… but man, it hadn't been until the blond really started to lay into him that he came to realize how bad things now were.

To think too that the punk had only landed just a few hits to bring him to this point… it was enough to make Roman shiver.

But he was buried now under those containers, so that should be the last of him, right? Right?

Unfortunately, no sooner than when he thought this, a veritable explosion went off behind him and he staggered forth as debris went flying all over the area. Inwardly, he grimaced. As if all the racket they were making wasn't enough to grab other people's attention at this point.

But his inward grumbling was silenced when he turned around and saw someone emerge from the now destroyed pile of containers – the blond kid.

Much like Roman himself, the kid has seen better days, with torn clothing here and there. Unlike Roman, however, he was a little more hurt for whatever reason, cuts and small bruises all over the visible parts of his hands and face and any other part that was showing.

But even then, the blond stood tall and still wielding his two simple blades. And off his body, a golden light shone brightly – his aura, without a doubt.

The gleam in the teen's blue eyes was just a final indication that he was far from done just yet too.

Roman gaped – for all of maybe a split second, that is. Immediately, he turned tail and began to flee. He was tough guy, but he knew when it was time to run like hell.

Now was such a time and he couldn't have chosen a better time to do so, for the blond swung both swords in a X-shaped pattern, golden light being unleashed from this action.

Roman had to practically throw himself onto the ground to avoid being struck, and while he succeeded at this, the growing aura slashes cut right through the shipping containers in front of him and caused those stacks to start falling apart.

Swearing yet again, Roman dashed like madman but not before shooting several shots with Melodic Cudgel at his pursuer just as the blond started to give chase. The shots barely even slowed him down, but it still managed to occupy his attention just long enough for Roman to put on a burst of speed that saw him out of the collapsing structures and out into the open.

And there, he saw yet another sign of his carefully crafted plan falling apart.

The stupid Faunus – the cat girl and dumb monkey boy – were pretty much tearing apart the animals that were trying and failing to take them down, their blades and ridiculous gun-chuks more than enough to lay on the hurt.

Then there was Red, blitzing across the area and bum-rushing any of the White Fang that had been trying to take off with the Dust onto the bullhead, a bullhead that was now airborne if only to avoid being raided by these annoying teens.

As for the other bullhead, the modified one which had been remaining on standby to avoid gunning down its own allies, now felt it was now or never to get involved once more.

Damn animals, must have had a moral crisis or some shit to take this long to start shooting again, Roman felt.

That said…

"Hey!" he roared as loudly as he could, which wasn't much compared to all the noise going on not so far away, but he nonetheless tried to get its attention as he continued to run.

Thankfully for him, he was within the pilot's line of sight and the frantic waving of his cane helped a bit. He then gestured to the blond catching up with him just as the containers fell behind them both, sending dust and grim splattering everywhere.

He grunted and spun around to block the incoming attack with his cane, but the blond had swung both blades this time in one fluid motion. Roman now knew how much strength this guy seemed to have, but even then, he couldn't fully prepare himself for the impact of both blades against Melodic Cudgel.

Not only that but was it just his mind messing with him or was the blond somehow even stronger now?! The reason why he had such a terrified thought just now was because before his beloved cane had been able to weather a strike or two without too much issue, but now the teen's blades were _cutting into it!_

On instinct, Roman threw himself back to avoid having his cane and potentially himself cut down. Frantically, he tried to take aim and shoot the blond despite the still close distance between them, but nothing happened when he pulled the trigger – the gun function of Melodic Cudgel had been damaged.

"F-Fire! Fire damnit!" he yelled in a panic.

Much to his relief, it seemed the bullhead saw how much trouble he was in and opted to prioritize him. He had no idea if the pilot had actually heard him or not, but he was willing to entertain divine providence just this once.

The bullhead closed in and opened fire just as the blond swung at Roman again. Roman deflected the hit as best as he could, but his cane broke in two this time and the force of the strike sent him sprawling tens of feet.

Not that he was gonna complain – it left him out of the firing zone.

Sure enough, before the blond could continue his single-minded pursuit, he was besieged by a hail of heavy gunfire, designed to pierce through the thick armor of artillery.

By all rights, a person should have absolutely no chance at surviving such a barrage, even with aura. They'd be lucky to even survive more than a few shots, much less an entire goddamned ammo supply.

But to Roman's absolute shock, the blond calmly – _calmly_ – swung his blades at the veritable firestorm, cutting down the massive bullets with seemingly little effort. It was a sight that made the thief almost forget how to even breathe.

However, a second or two later, signs of true exertion showed on the blond teen's scarred face and Roman took solace in that.

But then the golden aura exuding from his body increased dramatically, to the point where his very eyes and inside of his mouth now seemed to literally leak aura as well.

The ferocity with which he swung his blades increased in proportion and he started slicing down more and more of the bullets coming his way. He'd been pinned down initially, but now he was cutting them down fast enough to actually progress towards the bullhead!

By now, Roman really should've been making a damn run for it, towards the other bullhead he'd come in on and booked it out of here, but his mind was so out of it watching such an impossible thing that he forgot to do so.

For a long second, he truly wondered if things could get any more ridiculous – and of course, as if to fucking spite him, things did.

There was a lapse in the blond teen's movements – not enough to be truly noticeable unless one was looking for it, but enough to make a definitive difference. And sure enough, the blond had forced an opening in the gunfire just long enough to swing his right sword and unleash yet another wave of pure aura.

It cut through the sky, literally making a temporary tear in the air itself in the process and cut into the bullhead even when it'd tried to take evasive action. It sliced cleanly through its right wing and in immediate response, the bullhead swiftly started to fall, crashing into the ground with a loud thud and heavy shake while it was at it too.

But at the exact same time the blond had launched this strike, it had in turn left him slightly open too and so immediately after his successful attack, several of the fallen bullhead's remaining shots struck him, piercing through his chest and stomach. One of them even got him in his left shoulder.

The sheer force of the shots, again, which were designed to pierce through thick armor such what's found on those Atlas flagships and the like, blasted the blond back and he slammed into one of the shipping containers that held Dust within it.

The shots had also pierced the container and ignited the fire Dust inside, causing it to go up in flames that spread out a fair bit, practically bathing the blond bastard in it.

"JAUNE!" Little Red screamed loudly, very much so.

The now all too familiar sound of gunfire from that oversized garden tool of hers neared quickly, keeping Roman from celebrating the incapacitation and likely death of the blond.

When he'd been knocked aside just a moment ago, he'd ended up near one of the downed White Fang grunts, who'd gone down holding onto his rifle. Picking it up, Roman fired it haphazardly at Red just as she closed in on him.

With that ridiculous speed of hers, she dodged the shots as easily as one would breath, but the spray of gunfire was enough to keep her from immediately closing the remaining distance.

"Torchwick!"

Roman sighed. Right, the damn kitty and her monkey boytoy.

They'd finished knocking down his remaining crew and were nearing him too. Unlike Little Red, however, they switched their weapons into their gun forms and started shooting.

With Melodic Cudgel broken, swatting the bullets aside wasn't exactly an option for him, so he had to stick low and fired back with another rifle he came upon as he rushed for the bullhead.

"Hurry up! Lower, damn it!" he yelled.

The pilot did as he was told and Roman leapt into the opening landing platform. "Go, go, go!"

He wasn't even fully inside the bullhead when it started to rapidly rise, the few animals that had remained on it this whole time rushing to help him in as well as any of the few – so very, very few – grunts that had been wise enough to retreat instead of attempting to engage those stupid teens.

For once, he was almost glad to see the damned Faunus and he started to stand up – only to cry out in pain and collapse to one knee.

His good knee, that is to now say.

A sword had been thrown at him, with another force to pierce and shatter his weak aura and pierce his left knee. Blood leaked out of the entrance and exit wounds as he howled.

Pulling it out wasn't exactly a smart thing to do, but the bullhead had some first-aid kits on board, so he decided to risk it.

No sooner than when he pulled it out while one of the White Fang ran to retrieve the kits, Roman turned around and nearly gasped when he saw the blond, now short one sword, leap up a surprising distance and with a terrifying speed at them!

The blond looked like hell, with some burns from the fire on both his clothes and skin, large holes from the bullhead's gunfire visible for all to see and slowly leaking blood, at least from where they hadn't been cauterized by the flames from the fire Dust. Not only that, but he was bleeding from the eyes and mouth too, as if blood vessels had burst or something.

Even with such injuries, he managed to grip the raising landing platform with just the one hand and started to pull himself in with only a grunt or two to show how hard he was trying here.

Roman and all the remaining White Fang were gaping like damned idiots, but in the case of the thief this lasted only a second.

With a yell, he flung the sword at the blond, who merely moved to the side to avoid it and thus the sword went sailing harmlessly back to the ground.

The blond tried to crawl his way in, but by now the platform was almost completely raised – attempting to continue would only result in him being crushed.

But Roman wasn't about to risk this freak of nature being on the same bullhead as him, no damned way – if he could survive all this in one piece, then he wasn't about to take a chance to see if the blond could somehow shrug off being crushed, especially since collapsing the containers on him hadn't worked.

Limping forward, he started to kick at the blond teen's face and hand, causing his grip to falter and nearly slip – only for the teen to stubbornly refuse to let go completely and keep clawing at the metal, his fingers denting it in his attempts to remain here.

The blond then swung with his other sword at Roman, who was too hurt and tired to fully dodge and ended up suffering a laceration along his side, starting on the right side of his stomach and ending at just a bit below his left armpit.

He howled yet again in pain, the wound just deep enough to draw blood but thankfully not bisect him. He fell back and clawed his way away from the blond… but not before taking one half of Melodic Cudgel, all that remained of his weapon, and jabbing the broken and jagged end into the back of the teen's hand.

It crushed bone and naturally drew blood. It also weakened his grip for good and the blond finally let go and fell from the bullhead's landing platform just before it fully closed, taking the half of Roman's cane with him.

The last thing Roman saw of the blond as he fell was the latter's intense blue eyes.

He wasn't down. He wasn't going to die from just this much. He was going to find him, sooner or later.

And as the bullhead took off at top speed, the operation a complete and utter failure, Roman could only sit there and shake in fear even as he was treated for his injuries.

He didn't relish ever seeing the blond again. He simply wasn't normal, not one bit.

Surely, the blond can't be anything less than a complete monster.

* * *

Blake sits there, tired not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.

It's been a bit more than twenty minutes since Roman and the small remainder of the White Fang crew fled the scene.

Mere minutes after that had happened, the police had finally showed up – and upon seeing the state of the docks, backup was called in as well as several ambulances and firetrucks.

Having lost her ribbon during all the fighting, she'd been unable to cover up her cat ears when the officers swiftly came to question her and the others about what happened, something that had made her feel so horribly exposed.

But to her silent amazement, during the questioning, not once had any of the officers looked at her ears in disdain or outright disgust. They hadn't even seemed to notice her ears at all nor had they treated Sun badly either, even when it was obvious that the two of them were Faunus and the unconscious White Fang members were being visibly rounded up, tended to and ultimately taken into custody.

Maybe whatever racists were among the police were simply being too professional about all this to immediately care or something along those lines.

Or maybe, the racism she'd perceived as existing in Vale was just that – perceived, fake, false, etc. While she'd no doubt it still existed, given the likes of Cardin back at Beacon, it might just be less so than what she's come to think.

"Here," Ruby spoke up, coming up to her with a hot cup of cocoa.

"Thanks," Blake said quietly but with extreme gratitude.

She looked at Ruby in a whole new light.

Before, she'd seen potential in the kind and naïve girl, but now, after having come to fight alongside her and helping her and Sun tell a story to the police that kept any of them from being punished too harshly, the cat Faunus could now see clearly the depths of the younger girl's convictions.

The girl had said she wanted to become a huntress in order to help people and sure enough, she'd come to her side to do just that, even when she'd ran off on her and the others the other day on top of dropping a real bombshell on them too.

It was enough to make the guilt from before return.

It must have shown on her face because Ruby looked like she was going to panic. "U-Uhm, should I have gotten you coffee instead…?"

"Ah, no, it's not that…"

After being looked over by the paramedics and being questioned thoroughly by the officers on the initial scene, Ruby had made a run to a nearby café that was still open and got them all hot cocoa. Yet another small but ever important sign of the type of person Ruby is.

And yet another thing to make her feel bad.

"It's just that… Ruby, I'm sorry," Blake began as she sat there. "About what happened before. I shouldn't have just left you and the others behind like that. It's just that…"

She trailed off, not sure of what to say, partially because she really didn't know how to express her feelings right now but also because her paranoia even now worked to keep her from discussing her past out here in the open with so many officers and officials still around.

But Ruby knew what she was trying to say though and the silver eyed girl smiled softly. "It's fine," she said.

Those simple two words were enough to nearly make her spit out her cocoa. "I-It's… fine?" The disbelief she felt couldn't have been more obvious. "But I-!"

Ruby held up a hand. "Blake… well, to be honest, even now, I'm kinda having a hard time just taking it all in. It's been a pretty crazy few days, you know," she started sheepishly, but then looked serious. "But I like to think I know you by now… and that you're not the kind of person to have joined, well, 'them' for any simple reason. You're a good person, Blake, you just… you just got caught up in a bad crowd. Now you just need to leave it all behind for good and start again."

"But what about us?" Blake whispered, hunching up. "What about you and Yang and… and Weiss? What about the team?"

Ruby's smile softened. "What about us…? We missed Blake, so just having you back – if you want to come back – is more than enough for us."

Blake stared at her. "Even Weiss?"

"Even her." Ruby then scratched at the side of her face nervously. "You might be in for a long lecture though…"

At that, Blake couldn't help but outright laugh.

All the trouble she's caused… and all she's going to get as a punishment from her team is a lecture? Such a thought boggled her mind.

"I see. That's fair. More than fair," she responded. "And besides… I need to clean the air with you all anyways."

Indeed. She really shouldn't have ran off like that in the first place. She should've stayed put and explained herself to them all. Maybe then, tonight could've gone much differently if she'd been able to have the others – her friends, her team – at her side.

"Whenever you're ready to talk about 'that,' we'll be more than happy to listen. I, for one, am just glad you're okay," Ruby replied, now trying to sound more leader-like, which got yet another genuine laugh out of Blake, something the young leader shared in too.

Her burden feeling much lighter now, she continued to sip her cocoa while Ruby plopped down beside her and drank hers too, albeit much more greedily, being a little sugar fiend.

"So," Ruby then began a little awkwardly. "What's up with that Sun guy?"

Blake snorted. "Oh, him? Just a stalker, I guess."

"A stalker?" Ruby looked at her with wide eyes. "You sure about that? I-I mean, he did seem to be helping you… not exactly stalker-like."

A little ways away from them, Sun was talking with some of the paramedics, finally getting looked over after having given additional statements just now to the officers. He noticed them both and waved at them with a goofy smile.

Waving back slightly, Blake huffed in amusement. "Yeah, he's not very stalker-like at all," she said.

The two of them went back to sipping their cocoa for a moment, enjoying the respite. But now that they've said what they needed to say, a certain tension began to fill them both when they eyed a certain ambulance close by.

"I can't believe he's still alive," Blake mumbled in amazement.

"Y-Yeah," Ruby agreed, not really able to think of anything else to say it seemed.

Because of how late into the fighting she joined in, Ruby had emerged unscathed while she and Sun had only mild exhaustion and mildly depleted aura to show for their efforts tonight.

Jaune, however, had suffered much more than they had, so very much. When they'd seen the bullet holes in him in addition to the burns and blood, Blake's heart had felt like it would stop and Ruby had looked ready to cry. Even Sun, ever friendly, had look at his fellow blond in horror and concern.

This was to say nothing of the paramedics who'd promptly looked as if they were ill themselves when they took a glance at Jaune. Given their expertise, Blake imagined they must have immediately been able to figure out the extent of Jaune's visible injuries and had been shocked by how he was still alive.

But the blond himself had seemed nonplussed about it all. In fact, beyond a mild grunt, he hadn't looked to be even remotely bothered by the state of his body, having calmly walked to collect his dropped sword and cleaning both blades off before sheathing them just before the police had arrived in the first place.

Since then, he's been inside the ambulance, still being tended to and apparently insisting on not going to a hospital, merely needing some minor patch ups.

Blake could only shake her head. The blond really was different from most others, something that she now began to question was a good thing or not.

But even so, she was thankful towards him. He'd accompanied Ruby when he didn't have to in attempt to find her and had done more than enough in trying to thwart Torchwick and the White Fang, which he'd succeeded in doing despite them getting away.

At least they hadn't been able to take any of the Dust.

"So, you told JNPR about…?" Blake asked out of the blue.

Ruby nodded. "Sorry, even with everything going on, it wasn't my secret to tell, but-!"

"No, no, it's fine. It's just…" Blake trailed off. Ruby had given her a quick rundown of what had happened following her abrupt leaving, including the meetup with team JNPR as well as the blond leader's reaction to it all.

Yet another truly exceptional individual she's come across, it'd seemed, now more so than ever. She'd thought the blond to be a little special on that first night, before initiation, but now that belief was firmly solidified.

But what made this so much more incredible was just how little Jaune really knew about her… and how little all of them really knew about him. And yet, he was more than willing to go to such lengths for her…

For what purpose had he done all this? What did he have to gain from it all? To immediately aid in looking for her and doing most of the heavy lifting in stopping the Dust theft tonight… even with her whole mindset being reevaluated right now, it was impossible for her to think he could be doing this for any simple reason like Ruby had done.

Just who and what exactly was Jaune Arc?

…

Well, she wasn't going to find out the answers to that just by sitting around.

"Say, Ruby," she began. "I'll be right back, okay? I want to go see how Jaune is doing."

"Oh, okay," the girl replied. "Uhm, just remember that professor Goodwitch is on her way here along with the others… and I kinda don't want to confront them all alone…"

Blake winced. The deputy headmistress has been called as soon as the police had IDed them as Beacon students. She was currently taking a bullhead into Vale right now. As for Yang and Weiss, apparently after they'd finished up their punishment from earlier, they'd gone deeper into Vale in trying to find her and after Ruby had called them several minutes ago, they were now making their way here too.

Ruby wasn't the only one who didn't want to be alone when all three converged on this spot.

"Right. I'll try to be quick."

Giving her leader and friend that quick response, Blake downed the rest of her hot cocoa, nearly scalding her tongue in the process, and made her way to where she wanted to be.

She had a fair few questions to ask.

* * *

Jaune took a bit of solace in the relative peace and quiet he now had.

Naturally, when they'd seen the state he was in, the EMTs had pretty much freaked out and all but dragged him into this ambulance to be patched up. He would've been taken posthaste to the hospital too, but he'd managed to convince them to hold off on that, having stated that, as a trainee, he naturally had his aura to help himself recover from. Even then, it hadn't been easy to get them to ease off of him, but the mere fact he was still alive in spite of his injuries proved to be a plus in this case.

So, reluctantly, they'd gone off to check on the White Fang members that were being taken into custody.

Good, he thought to himself, hopefully whatever injuries they may have suffered weren't too severe. He doubted it given it was Blake and that Sun guy – he'd introduced himself right before the police arrived – who'd gone up against them. Still, he was paranoid in this respect.

In any case, he was to remain here in this ambulance for the time being. Professor Goodwitch had been informed of the situation and was on her way here, at which point it'll be her call on whether he should go to the hospital or not.

Until she arrived, however, he had plenty of time to reflect on all that has occurred.

And there was plenty to reflect on.

Jaune couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of himself for letting Roman Torchwick escape, but he knew it couldn't have been helped.

Had he truly wanted to, he could've stopped the thief much earlier on during their little scuffle but doing so would've meant both pushing his body to its current limits in order to end the battle _that_ quickly and would've also meant being more willing to engage in property damage.

Alas, that would've been unacceptable. Doing that would've utterly wrecked the dock, far more so than it had been ruined as it is. There was only so much property damage that could be considered justifiable or excusable during circumstances like this. Not only that, but if he had gone all out, he could've potentially got his comrades caught in the crossfire. Trainees or not, that would've been horribly reckless of him to do.

Thus, he'd been left with no choice but to hold back and it had cost him in the form of Roman getting away.

He'd hoped to at least cut off both of Roman's hands at the end there, when he'd managed to nearly get inside their escaping bullhead, but that had failed too. But at least the damage he had inflicted on the thief would prevent him from continuing his criminal escapades for a while, so that was a minor victory.

Furthermore, the Dust theft itself had been foiled and while some of that Dust had gone up in flames, it was better that than being in the hands of Roman and the White Fang, so that could still be considered a boon, even if others rightfully wouldn't see it that way.

That all said…

"He'd been surprisingly slippery," he mumbled to himself as he shifted slightly in his seat within the ambulance. This small action caused him more than a little pain and aggravation to his already steadily healing wounds, but he paid it no mind.

Out there in the frontier, he's encountered numerous bandits and other less than kindly people, all of whom had varied in threat level towards any surrounding populace. As strong or as fast or as tough or experienced many of them had been, not many had any true training to their names. In this respect, Roman had differed.

Certainly, he's fought stronger and faster and tougher foes. He's fought against those with plenty of battle experience. But Roman has been trained before and his years of experience as a criminal had only further refined his moves. Combined with his pragmatic nature, he'd been a surprisingly slippery foe that, when combined with his own self-restrictions, had been difficult to stay near.

The firepower he'd brought along with him in the form of the White Fang had also been to the thief's advantage.

Which was also an oddity in and of itself. From what he understood, pretty much the entirety of the White Fang wasn't exactly fond of humans, having even expelled all of their human members during their radicalization into the group they're known as today.

They wouldn't be having anything to do with the likes of Roman unless there was a genuine need for him.

And what would that need be? The stealing of so much Dust? Given the fact that the White Fang members that had been here tonight seemed to be relatively new to field work judging by their rash behavior and lack of quick coordination, he supposed whatever cells Roman was now involved with had need of him for his superior skill and experience, but again, why all the Dust? What purpose would the Dust serve in the long run?

"Jaune?"

Jaune blinked and he snapped to attention towards the open doors of the ambulance. From around the corner came Blake, who'd just called out to him.

She looked ready to follow up with something, only to pause as her eyes fell on him. She immediately went still and sort of just gazed at him in a mixture of shock and even horror.

Inwardly, Jaune winced.

The EMTs had stripped off his shirt in order to directly apply aid to his injuries and he'd yet to put it back on, thereby exposing to Blake's eyes the sheer number of wounds he had. Even if they were now bandaged and already healing, the blood slowly seeping through despite how masterfully applied the bandages and gauze were no doubt made for a less than pretty sight.

Thankfully, when his shirt had been taken off, it'd been given to him and he was still holding onto it. So, making it seem as if he'd just been about to put it back on regardless of her sudden appearance, he addressed her.

"How are they?" he asked.

"W-What?" Blake's attention now diverted from his wounds just as he put on his shirt, she looked confused.

"The White Fang members that had been apprehended," he explained. "Had the EMTs looked at them already? Are they okay?"

"Are they okay? If anyone should be asked that question, it's you!"

"I'm fine," Jaune responded, just barely able to hold back from saying he's actually had worse. "And them?"

His words clearly befuddled Blake, who was once more staring at him for a few seconds, but she shook herself out of her reverie. "They're fine. Just some bumps and bruises… Sun and I, as hard as we'd fought, made sure to take them down quickly before they could do any more harm."

Jaune nodded. "I see… that's good."

Indeed, it was good. He'd been able to tell just by looking at them that there was still a hope for redemption there, much like was the case with the girl standing before him. They merely had to want such a thing now. They were a far cry from the likes of Roman, who struck him as the sort of person to never give up his ways.

As such, he'd had no reason to cut them down and it pleased him immensely to see that Blake and Sun had spared them, even if their reasons for doing so likely weren't the same as his own.

Again, Blake looked at him intently, evaluating him it seemed. The look only lasted for yet a second longer than her previous stare before she spoke again. "Look, I just… I just wanted to come by really quick and see how you were doing… and also, to say thank you. Ruby told me what's gone on since my… sudden departure. Thank you, for giving them as well as myself a chance to talk this all out."

Jaune smiled softly. "There's no need to thank me – it was the right thing to do. But you're welcome. I just wish things hadn't gotten to this point just for you and your team to reconcile."

"Well, the mess aside, we did manage to stop Torchwick and the White Fang from taking literally tons of Dust, so let's just call it even on that front."

Jaune nodded in agreement. That was more than fair enough.

"That said…" Blake began, now entering the ambulance and taking a seat by his side. She eyed the open doors a little warily and her cat ears, which he now noticed were uncovered, twitched as she likely used them to listen closely for anyone coming by. "I do have a few questions for you."

Blinking, Jaune could only motion for her to continue.

The B of team RWBY wasted no time asking her questions. "Just why did you do it? Why were you so quick to help us? I… I like to think our teams had become friends fairly quick, but not so much that you'd be so immediately tempted to help like this.

"And more importantly… why do you go to such lengths in the first place? What drives you?"

Once more, Jaune blinked, but then closed his eyes in thought.

Ah, so that's what it was. He understood now. Once more, he was reminded that his mindset was just a bit different from how most people usually thought.

"It was simply the right thing to do," he began rather lamely, saying the first words that came to his mind, words he must have spoken hundreds of times if not more over the years when questioned about his actions.

He paused, trying to think of a way to explain things here. With nothing coming to mind, there was really one thing he could do – tell Blake the truth.

Such a thing made him nearly tense up, but he was able to keep himself from doing so.

Given Blake's own circumstances, perhaps it would be okay to tell her… if only a part of it.

His internal struggle seemed to be something Blake could sense, for she remained patiently silent as he gathered his thoughts.

A moment later, he rewards her patience.

"…When I was around 6 years old," he started quietly. "my family and I went on a little trip. At the time, my dad was out on huntsman business, so it was me, my mom, and my sisters back at the house. Getting a little stir-crazy, my mom had opted to take us out to a neighboring town to let us go nuts.

"Then…" He paused, feeling his own expression darken a bit. "On the way back home, we were ambushed by bandits."

Beside him, Blake twitched, her breath audibly hitching.

He soldiered on with his explaining, but not before adding some context.

"The area in which my family and I live… well, it's not that far out of the kingdom – we're just close enough to enjoy movies and games and stuff, but it's all pretty retro compared to how things are like here. As such, there's a fair bit of distance between our hometown and the other towns and there weren't any cars around to cover that distance – all that travel had to be done on foot, more often than not. So, when we were ambushed, there wasn't exactly anyone else around to help us out.

"…Anyways, the bandits wasted no time attacking us, smacking around me and my sisters. But especially my mother…. She took the brunt of their hits as she tried to protect us all. And all the while I could only sit there, scared out of my mind as the bandits laughed and jeered in between hitting us all. It wasn't until after they'd gone through all the stuff we'd been carrying on our persons that one of them decided to pull out a blade and put it to my mom's throat that something in me started to break…"

Here, he paused yet again, this time doing nothing to keep from tensing up, his fists tightening painfully.

"The man slit her throat – thankfully, not fatally so, but as a kid, I didn't know that at the time. All I knew at that moment was that my mom may very well have died before my own eyes and that my sisters would likely be next. That realization was more than enough for me to awaken both my aura and semblance, and I finally had it in me to move like I _should have done_ from the start, rather than let my mom take all the pain for us.

"Though the bandits had the numbers advantage, seeing a kid suddenly lashing out at them with aura enhanced fists wasn't exactly something they'd dealt with before and they ran off, leaving us behind."

Jaune sighed upon saying all that, unclenching his fists and forcing himself to calm down. To think he wouldn't be rattled anymore by those memories… looks like speaking about it aloud was a different matter.

"Using my newfound strength from aura, I was able to carry my mom as fast as I could back to town, my sisters doing what they could to keep up. Of course, we did what we could to first bandage her wound first before moving, but being kids there was only so much we could do. My oldest sister, Saphron, in her teens at the time, had mainly taken care of the wound, but again, not much we could do with most of our stuff now gone.

"Not like it would've changed how things turned out in the end – turns out, when the bandits had ran off, they'd gone in the direction of our hometown. They must have been upset over being scared off by me because they really ransacked some places along the town's edge, even killed an elderly couple that ran an arts and crafts shop, and generally scared the hell out of everyone else there before taking off. Even as I carried my mom to the town doctor, it was all I could to keep from hanging my head in shame the whole time."

Taking a deep breath and then slowly letting it out, he looked to Blake as he finished up his little tale. "…Because of my inaction, my mom paid a price. So did the couple back home. If only I'd done the right thing from the start – literally anything other than just having sat there and watched in fear – then maybe, things could've been prevented."

There was a period of silence between them both, with only the sounds outside the ambulance going on still.

Blake was the first to break the silence. "I… Jaune, that's… that wasn't your fault," she said softly. "You were only a kid. Even if you would've been able to unlock your aura and semblance sooner, there was just no way for anyone to know how things could've turned out."

"Indeed, I was. Just a dumb, happy-go-lucky kid." Jaune grimaced. "I'm well aware of that. So was everyone else once the details behind that incident became known. No one blamed me for it, not even once. But even so… I may know that intellectually, but in my heart, it still feels inexcusable. I still should have-."

"-Done something," Blake finished quietly. "Done the 'right thing.' I see now. So that's why you're…?" She trailed off and made an uncertain motion.

Though very vague, Jaune understood what Blake's gesture meant.

'Why you are the way you currently are,' she'd likely wanted to say.

He nodded in confirmation. As he did this, he couldn't help but feel bad a bit.

What he just told her was true and was indeed a major contributor to how he currently was… but there was more to it than just that.

His semblance… yes, that too played a role in shaping him into this, a major role in fact.

But he felt Blake didn't need to know that.

Perhaps it was cowardly of him to hold out on her like this, but he felt he'd be better off holding onto this secret just a little longer.

"What about your mother?" Blake then asked. "I-I mean, is she…?"

"She's still alive and well." Jaune now smiled softly, reliving the moment when he and his family found out she was going to be okay, generally speaking. "Though the cut to her throat had damaged her vocal chords… ever since then, speaking isn't something she could no longer do."

Blake was now downcast. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "I am too… but amazingly, it's not all bad. My mom, well, she's nothing if not resilient; though the best she can do is make grunts, moans and the like, she was able to refine it into something so much more, believe it or not." Though the mere memory of the damage was enough to make him frown, recalling the effort his mom had put into recovering and how she did so was enough to make him chuckle quietly now. "She's always loved to sing and she was amazing at it. Even with her current state, I'd bet every last lien I have that she could be the greatest of opera singers."

His comment finally got a small laugh out of Blake, doing wonders to dampen the dour mood. "I see. Interesting… and Jaune? Thank you, for telling me all this. It couldn't have been easy."

"After all this chaos, it was only fair I answer your questions."

She shook her head. "You don't owe me anything. If anything, it's more like I owe you…"

"That so? In that case, let's just say you listening to me ramble a bit was you making it up to me and call it even now."

Blake snorted, but not unkindly. "Even after what you just told me, you're a strange one." Her eyes softened as she stood up and started to get out of the ambulance. "But that's not a bad thing. Now rest up, okay?"

"I'll try."

Giving him one last small smile, Blake walked off just as he heard some more people arrive nearby. Seems like professor Goodwitch and the rest of team RWBY had arrived.

As he listened quietly as the professor swiftly took command of the situation and started chewing team RWBY out, Jaune smiled slightly, feeling better than he ever has for quite a while now…

…Now, if only he could perhaps get out of being lectured by the professor; from what he could hear right now, the others were practically cowering before her and not even he was sure he'd be able to remain fearless before her.

* * *

 **Phew, hadn't expected this chapter to be so long. Rather ironic too considering last chapter or so, I commented on trying to keep most chapters around the same length, ha ha. Try not to think me a hypocrite, okay guys? Heh.**

 **Well, here you have it – part of Jaune's backstory for this fic. Obviously, there's a bit more to it than just that, as Jaune himself has indicated in his own thoughts there, but it shall remain under wraps for a while longer. That said, can't imagine it being that hard for you guys to figure out.**

 **Now, with how things turned out, I'm sure some of you may feel like not much has changed from canon, what with Roman having gotten away, but rest assured that this isn't the case. As you can tell, everyone's favorite thief is far from tip-top shape and this will impact his future appearances as will his completely failed operation.**

 **Not only that, but as Jaune's noticeably warped mentality may indicate, there's a lot more going to him than what you've already noticed about our resident blond. I also like to think the way he was portrayed from Roman's point of view will further change opinions on how Jaune operates, not just mentally, but in practice as well.**

 **Hope this chapter was up to par with your expectations. If so, great! And for those that perhaps expected more action, not to worry, there's still plenty more to come in the future!**

 **Also, on a random side note, Jaune's mom basically makes the same 'aaaahs' and 'laaas' and other sounds that Tiamat makes in Fate Grand Order.**

 **Now then, until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	10. Chapter 10

Once again, sorry for getting this chapter a little later than I normally do. As usual, life had gotten a little busy for me in a few ways. That, and once more, writing the most recent chapter for my original novel took a fair bit of time to do due to mild writer's block.

That, and figuring out how best to handle the continuing aftermath of the previous chapter was kind of gnawing at me. I knew how to start it and what I generally wanted to do next, but for once, the small details eluded me until just a while ago.

But I believe I've got it all figured out now.

Now then, let's start!

P.S. As you may have noticed, finally put up a cover for this fic! Art is done by Rokuji aka At6zi as a congrats for Silverio Trinity Beyond the Horizon being released. He was one of the artists who worked on it and posts regularly on Twitter and it all gets uploaded to google. Yeah, basically, the guy in the cover is how Jaune looks in this fic, just with the clothes mentioned in chapter 1.

Chapter 10

Two days go by since the dock incident. During these past two days, Jaune has healed up quite nicely, much to the amazement of the doctors when professor Goodwitch, upon having seen the state he was in that night, had persuaded the medics to take him to Vale's closest hospital.

Of course, his friends had been amazed by his healing ability as well as had the professor and headmaster when he, Ruby, and Blake had been called up to his office immediately upon returning to Beacon to speak with him.

That said, though today was the start of classes for this week, Jaune had been quietly ordered by the headmaster and professor Goodwitch to take the day off and rest up, preferably in bed much to his surprise.

He'd actually wanted to protest this by going to class anyways, but when he'd first returned to Beacon that other night, his own team had been shocked and even horrified over the events at the dock and his own state and he'd pretty much been confined to their room by them for almost the entirety of these past two days.

And earlier, when he'd tried to get up and change into his school uniform, his partner had practically held him down in bed and nearly yelled at him to stay down, rest up and that she'll take care of taking any notes for classes for him. He'd tried pleading with Nora and Ren for some moral support here, but they'd taken Pyrrha's side and as a result of being outvoted despite being the leader, here he now was, all on his lonesome.

Lying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling, he sighed in mild befuddlement over everyone's fussing. Really now, his injuries hadn't been that bad. Again, he really has taken worse, though he hadn't told them that.

That said, he'd ultimately complied because if nothing else, doing so would alleviate his friends' concerns. However, this came at the price of boredom.

Having been advised against doing anything even remotely strenuous, there really wasn't much he could do beyond reading, but he's done plenty of that since the incident anyways. Refreshing the news page on his scroll would only get so far after a while.

He was tempted just to get up and train, but even as broken as he was psychologically, even he knew when it was sometimes better to rest than to continue pushing himself, though this was strictly only in regards to training – battling 'evil' was another matter entirely.

But again, simply lying here on his back wasn't exactly appealing. Indeed, he was going stir-crazy. Having always been on the move or otherwise doing something during his time traveling out in the frontier, staying generally still for so long was just crazy.

Sighing quietly, he got up and changed into his casual clothes as well as gathered his blades after giving them a quick inspection to make sure they were in good form.

Surely, going for a little stroll in Vale wouldn't hurt, yes? It wasn't as if he was going to try actively hunting down the White Fang or Roman or any criminal in general… though if he did see some criminal activity going on, well, ignoring it certainly wouldn't be something he could do.

Huffing at his own slight deviousness there, Jaune actually cracked a slight smile. But this only lasted for a second before his usual stern countenance took place.

A thought just occurred to him – perhaps he could stop by the docks and give it a quick look again, if only to see if there were any clues he could work with here.

If nothing else, he could do his part in trying to preemptively stop any future Dust thefts by locating where Roman and his crew may have gone to.

With this goal now firmly in mind, Jaune wrote a small note and placed it on the room's sole nightstand before leaving.

* * *

Though it was barely halfway through the first class of the day, a time where most students were normally on the verge of falling back asleep, Blake was wide awake and alert as one could be.

The past few days have really changed her outlook on things.

First, there'd been the soul-crushing truth of the White Fang not only doing the recent Dust thefts but also working with scum like Torchwick of all people too.

Then there'd been the entire battle at the docks, where things had swiftly spiraled out of control in a number of ways. It was amazing no one had died by the end of it all.

After that, there'd been her quick reconciliation with Ruby and then her even quicker chat with Jaune, which had helped lighten the dark mood the White Fang's new activities had put here in at the time.

After having been thoroughly lectured by professor Goodwitch for all the trouble that she's caused, albeit inadvertently in some respects, she'd then had a private talk with both Weiss and Yang upon returning to Beacon that had ultimately ended with them reconciling too.

All things considered, Blake was feeling much better than she ever had before.

And as if to physically indicate this, her cat ears – her _uncovered_ Faunus traits – twitched a bit for all to see.

Due to having lost her bow in all the chaos of that night and thanks to her talks with Jaune and her friends, Blake had opted to not get a replacement bow and braved showing her Faunus traits in public.

And much to her pleasant surprise, people had barely batted an eye. Hell, not even Cardin and his team had commented on it!

Of course, that isn't to say her cat ears have gone unnoticed, it's just that a lot more students than she'd thought couldn't care less. Only a few have even spoken of her sudden reveal, but never in any nasty tones.

That wasn't to say Beacon was completely devoid of racists and other unsavory sorts, but evidently the number wasn't anywhere near as high as her paranoid self had once thought.

It had all been quite humbling and she only felt like even more of a fool for how she's been acting.

However, as good as her mood currently was, that didn't mean all was hunky-dory in her personal world now.

Only barely paying enough attention to class to avoid being called out, Blake silently mulled over the revelations the dock incident had forced upon her.

The White Fang had once again declined, now stooping to the level of Dust theft of all things. And with Torchwick at the helm too.

As much as it hurt her current good mood to even dwell on this, she couldn't help but do so. For it meant something was seriously wrong here.

Ever since the White Fang had radicalized, the group as a whole had held little to no fondness for its human members and had wasted no time kicking them out of the organization. While it would be wrong to say the entire organization hated humans, it also wouldn't be wrong to say they held no real love for humanity.

Put another way, the White Fang was now a group that wouldn't dare collaborate with any humans if it could be avoided, no matter how many sympathizers there may be for their cause in general.

That the White Fang, even if it was just a single cell or two, would not only work with someone like Torchwick but even seemingly put him in charge of an entire group was an obvious indicator that whatever their current plans were weren't something they could achieve by their lonesome.

This brought to mind some questions – for one thing, just what exactly were the White Fang's plans? Why all the Dust? And why work with a thief like Torchwick?

These were but three of several questions Blake now had floating around in her mind, but they were easily the most important ones too.

…Well, whatever the White Fang's reason was for all this, it definitely couldn't be good, especially not when Torchwick was with them now.

There wasn't a doubt in her mind about that – it wouldn't surprise her one bit if right now, somewhere, that bowel hat wearing scum was plotting his next heist while recuperating right now.

This thought was enough to get Blake to narrow her eyes now, even tense up a bit.

She had no idea when the next Dust heist would be, assuming that's what they decide to go for again. But whatever the White Fang's and Torchwick's plans were, she vowed silently to stop them with all she had.

And she wouldn't be alone now either.

Sparing a glance to her teammates – her friends – all around her, Blake's expression immediately softened and she even smiled a little.

She wasn't alone anymore. She had her team and she also had team JNPR as well… especially Jaune.

But more than that… it's been quite some time since she's ever spoken with Tukson, a former White Fang member much like herself who'd helped her get a fresh start here in Vale.

Perhaps later today or tomorrow, she'll pay him a visit.

* * *

Yep, it's official, Roman decided, this wasn't the time to be plotting his next move.

For one thing, he was still hurting like a bitch despite it having been two days already. For another, well, his mood was more than a little shitty anyways, which made it hard to really think of anything else to do.

As things currently were, they'd all have no choice but to lie low for a while, at least until the heat dies off a bit.

All that chaos at the docks had drawn attention from the media since, you know, it wasn't exactly every day the docks suddenly go up in smokes and flames, with bullheads crashing left and right and White Fang mooks being apprehended.

It was all over the damn news and since the stars of the show – those damned superpowered teens – weren't being mentioned on it – probably because Beacon was doing what it could to keep them out of the spotlight – that meant the news anchors didn't really have much else to do other than to keep talking about the White Fang and him and what their actions could possibly mean.

Roman huffed as he sat in his chair, trying not to move too much. Though he's been tended to by one of the damned animals that actually knew how to properly do first aid upon getting back to base, the cut he took to the torso was practically on fire still. Even with his restored aura and medication he'd gotten from a few back-alley doctors that knew their shit, he had to avoid twisting around too much to avoid the pain flaring up like a damned firework.

And then there was his knee.

The White Fang, useless as they usually are, didn't exactly have a proper doctor to look at and treat the wound, which had prompted him to pay a dirty surgeon under the table to swing by and see what he can do for his knee.

The wound had thankfully been a through and through one, but the damage had been done. Even with proper medical aid and his aura, his knee may not make a full recovery. According to the surgeon, who'd dealt with aura users before, the scary blond guy that had thrown his sword at him had apparently channeled his aura into the blade when he'd tossed it. Roman hadn't understood all the jargon the surgeon used nor cared to learn it, but basically the blond teen's aura had only fueled the sword's sharpness and other traits, making the damage that much worse somehow.

If it wasn't for that, the surgeon had commented, his knee would have had a far better chance of making a full recovery, but instead he may very well be walking with a limp the rest of his damned life now.

Combined with his beloved cane being ruined and having to pay a fair price for a replacement to be made ASAP, it was easy for anyone to see why Roman wasn't exactly in a sunshine and rainbows mood.

"Great, just freakin' great!" he hissed as he tried to get out of the chair.

He really, really wanted a cigar right now, but he'd also run out of those too, so he had no choice but to settle for pacing around the damned room instead. It was hell on the knee, but he refused to be sitting on his ass any longer. He's done plenty of that the past two days, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, as one of those pathetic animals entered his room, Roman knew just by the expression on the masked woman's face that his day was about to get even worse.

"She's here," the Faunus muttered quietly before exiting the room, making sure not to bump her antlers against the wall on her way out.

Roman sighed. "Lovely."

Looks like his boss had finally deigned it fit to pay him a visit after all this time having a hands-off approach. No doubt to reprimand him for failing.

It's times like this where he wished Neo was with him for all this crap, but unfortunately just because he was now unwillingly working for this woman didn't mean all of his previous little 'projects' could be left completely alone. That meant having Neo constantly run little errands for those matters while he got stuck having to work with the White Fang to steal all this stupid Dust.

Ah well, at least his boss was hot. Not much of a silver lining given how much of a slave-driver she is and all that, but he's got to take his victories where he can nowadays.

Limping out of his makeshift room and to the main one where he did all the planning and discussion (i.e. explaining to those stupid animals), he did little to suppress his frown upon seeing his boss once more.

Cinder Fall. A leggy, enigmatic beauty of a woman in a red dress, and dangerous as all hell.

And all it took for her to immediately remind him of that last point was merely to frown in his direction as she turned to face him, her eyes blazing as if they were on fire.

"Roman," spoke Cinder in a low and even husky voice. It was enough to make him shiver a little. For no matter how good she sounded, there was no denying the sheer disappointment in her tone.

Still, he sucked it up as best as he could and managed a little grin. "Cinder. Been a while. Would've rolled out the welcome carpet for you, if you'd given me a heads up."

"Heh, as if you'd ever own something that classy," snarked someone else in the room.

The voice, all too familiar to Roman, made him grimace.

Oh joy, she'd brought the kiddies along too.

"Surprised you even know of the word 'classy.' Guess you've been studying, Merc. Oh and how's the little wannabe thief? She hiding somewhere behind you?"

"Hey!" spoke the other girl that was there, her red eyes glaring fiercely at him. "Don't even think of comparing me to you, especially after you messed up!"

Roman rolled his eyes.

Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, Cinder's two young little lackeys.

He'll admit they knew their stuff, but at the end of the day they were just brats on a power trip due to being around Cinder. Honestly, he'd rather deal with Little Red and her friends than these two. At least with Little Red, he could actually rough her up, unlike the two here who he couldn't wail on due to Cinder preventing in-fighting.

The one good thing about that is that this meant she also keeps Mercury and Emerald from trying to off him when they thought he wasn't looking, if only because he was still (hopefully) useful to her plans. This was something he was rather grateful for right now given his current state.

"Emerald," Cinder said calmly, but that was all it took to get the feisty girl to frown and back up. Cinder then stepped forward. "Now if you three are done with your usual snark for the moment, care to explain why such an important operation has failed so spectacularly, Roman?"

The thief huffed and motioned to his bandaged state, particularly his knee. Due to having had to rest the past two days and get tended to, he didn't have his signature coat on nor his hat, something he was amazed those two punks hadn't commented on at first.

"I've been a little busy trying to survive," he started as he then gestured to his knee. "As you can see, jury's still out on whether or not I'd have been better off just dying."

Though he'd opened up with a complaint, rather than be annoyed by him, Cinder looked a little intrigued, if the way she quirked an eyebrow slightly was any indication. "I've noticed your physical state. How did that come to be? I take it someone interfered in the operation?"

Trying to not huff at how much of an understatement that was, Roman immediately launched into an explanation.

How everything started off relatively okay, only to then be interrupted by two damned Faunus teens that were undoubtedly trainees, followed then by the appearance of Little Red and finally a blond freaking monster who was the one responsible for pretty much the entire operation going completely off the rails.

As he got near the end of his little tale, Roman became vaguely aware of himself shaking a bit. He inwardly grimaced and tried to calm himself; recalling the expression on that blond teen's face as he'd fought and nearly killed him… it was coming back to him right now and it was pretty damned haunting.

He's never once seen someone that intense before.

It only took about ten minutes tops to explain everything in as much detail as possible. By the end of it, Roman was feeling suddenly fatigued.

Cinder looked contemplative.

Her little brats, however, looked skeptical.

"Seriously?" Emerald began. "You got your ass kicked that hard by just one teen?"

"Heh, you're getting on in age, I guess, aren't you? Must be losing your edge," Mercury then chipped in.

Roman grumbled and seethed. "Yeah, go ahead, keep smack talking. Say, if you ever come across this guy, maybe you try fighting him for just a minute or two. Then we'll see afterwards if you can laugh at my misery."

"Oh come on, a single guy being that good?" Mercury started. "I mean, yeah sure, he's probably a prodigy if you really aren't just playing things up, but taking down two bullheads? Surviving gunfire from one too? Probably just you misremembering things."

"Fine then, don't believe me. See if I'll care if you get your ass kicked or your stupid prosthetics cut right off."

Before Mercury could snark back or Emerald decided to chip in, Cinder spoke up again, silencing them all. "Enough. Must you three always behave like this?"

Her two punks shut up and backed down, which Roman took delight in despite doing so as well.

"So," he said to Cinder. "What's your thoughts on this, oh great and powerful boss?"

Cinder turned to him and just stared for a few seconds in thought. "While I'll admit to being a little skeptical over such a powerful person, especially one so young, suddenly coming out of nowhere like this, I will take you at yoru word… for now. Regardless if it's all true or not, it doesn't change the fact that this operation had been a complete failure. We're now going to have to make up for that night if we wish to remain on schedule."

Roman grimaced. "Then you want me to go back to raiding Dust shops? If you're expecting me to take enough from them to make up for the loss at the docks, it's going to be a while, especially since I'm not exactly in a condition to get that involved anymore. And I don't exactly trust the animals to do that good a job either."

"Nonetheless, it needs to be done," Cinder said almost flatly. "When one encounters failure, it's important to make up for it as soon as possible. This is especially true for you." Her eyes glowed slightly as she said that.

Again, he grimaced. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seemed. Either disobey Cinder and get turned to char or risk potentially running into that blond freak of nature again and get cut to ribbons. His options really weren't the most optimistic ones, weren't they?

He sighed. "…Just give me the rest of this week to recuperate and map some stuff out. No point hitting the Dust shops right now when the media's going this nuts over the docks. I may not exactly have a high opinion of the public and the authorities, but they're not _that_ dumb or oblivious. They'll be on edge for a while."

"As long as you can make up for the Dust lost at the docks in time for the next phase, do as you please," Cinder commented. "But I do expect you to not fail again."

"What about the other stuff you told me to do?" Roman asked. "Some White Fang traitor or something like that…"

"A former member that has been trying to keep tabs on his former group," Cinder explained. "It's been causing the White Fang stationed in and around Vale and even in Mistral a little inconvenience here and there. "

"So, you need him snuffed out then? Not sure if I can spare the time or manpower for that right now-."

"Which is why you won't be dealing with that anymore." Cinder then turned and motioned to the two brats. "It'll be up to them to remove him instead."

Judging by the lack of reaction from both teens, they seemed to have come here already knowing this.

Just because they did know this in advance, however, didn't mean they were going to do the deed in silence.

"Having to help clean up the mess you've been ignoring," Emerald began haughtily. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Merc is right – you have been losing your edge."

"Huh, you just say something?" Roman asked, pretending to have not even heard her. He allowed himself a little grin when Emerald's right eye twitched in annoyance.

Mercury also had a little shameless laugh at Emerald's expense, drawing her ire. When the girl glared at him, he simply looked to Cinder. "So how soon do you need us to get this done, anyways?"

"Not immediately, but preferably before the week is out," Cinder answered.

The grey-haired teen nodded. "Got it. We'll find his place and head there tomorrow probably. Until then, I figured we might as well just hit the shops, see what this stupid kingdom has to offer."

Cinder merely nodded and that was all that was needed for the two teens to take their leave, bickering as usual in the process.

Ah, sometimes he almost envied the leeway those two were given by their boss. Almost.

Now that he was alone with Cinder, his previous bravado was starting to balk.

"Anything else you need?" he asked to try and break the silence before it fully settled in.

"Nothing at the moment. Cinder sized him up. "This teen you spoke of… he really did do this to you?"

Roman blinked in mild surprise but nodded. "He'd have done a hell of a lot more if I hadn't bailed when I had. I'm serious here, Cinder, whoever that kid is was used to taking people down – _permanently._ "

Cinder hummed softly. "Interesting… did you happen to learn anything about him during your escape?"

Thinking back to that night, Roman couldn't really recall learning anything about the crazy strong teen, if only because he'd been too busy just trying to stay alive.

But there had been one thing…

"Little Red called out to him at one point," he stated. "His name is Jaune."

"Jaune…" Cinder repeated. She nodded slightly just a few times to herself. "Very well, I'll look into this 'freak of nature' as you called him during your explanation. In the meantime, just do as I've asked. And remember, Roman… no more failures."

"…Got it," Roman said as Cinder turned her back to him and left. He was halfway tempted to immediately grimace and mumble under his breath but managed to keep from doing so. After all, he couldn't be sure if Cinder had merely left the room or was in the process of leaving the entire warehouse here. After narrowly surviving death one time, he wasn't interested in trying to walk right into another incident like that anytime soon.

That said, damn, this sucked. Did that woman really expect him to make up for the Dust lost at the docks just by raiding Dust shops? The amount needed to do that would be ridiculous, not to mention would take a hell of a lot of time since he was going to have to really start traveling further and further around to avoid getting too predictable.

Eh, whatever. Not the first time he's had to do stupid shit like this. And if nothing else, at least he'd essentially been able to send Cinder after that Jaune guy. With any luck, she'll deem the blond too troublesome to be alive, try to kill him and either succeed or end up getting offed herself.

Or maybe they'll even take out each other if a fight ever broke out between them. Regardless of which three possibilities took place, he'd walk out of it a winner.

He'd just have to survive until then, something he'd have no problem committing himself to.

This also would make him a stark contrast to the poor schmuck Mercury and Emerald would be going after. As much as he hated to admit it, those two were good at what they did.

What was the schmuck's name again too? Tukson or something like that?

Bah, why did he even care. It wasn't his problem anymore.

And if all went well, all of this would cease to be a problem in due time.

* * *

After arriving in Vale, Jaune had wasted no time making his way towards the docks. And as expected, because clean-up was still ongoing in addition to the investigation started by the police, the whole area was pretty much cordoned off from everything else.

This didn't deter him, however, for it wasn't necessarily the docks itself that he'd wanted to meticulously look at.

After all, with all the destruction that had occurred that night, finding any clues wasn't exactly high on the list of likelihoods. And it wasn't as if Roman and his White Fang cohorts had traveled by foot or by car, so looking for any possible tracks wasn't going to happen either.

But they had come in those bullheads and when he and Ruby had been making their way to Blake's and Sun's rescue, they'd seen from afar as those bullheads had arrived.

He merely wished to come to the docks as a way to orient his thoughts and try to mentally backtrack the way the bullheads had come.

Although there was no way someone as smart as Roman would make a straight beeline from wherever he and the White Fang were set up at to the docks and back, if he could at least figure out the area the bullheads generally came from, he could then narrow down the areas to be searched.

Getting as close as he can to the docks without causing any trouble, Jaune stared up at the sky and started to relive the memories of that night, recalling the direction he and Ruby had traveled from and the flight paths the bullheads had taken to get to the docks as well.

He must have looked out of place to anyone around him, simply standing there like a statue, but he paid it no mind as he focused.

A few minutes later, Jaune made a little motion with his right hand as he held it up and mimicked the escaping bullhead's flight path with his fingers. He did it a few more times as he started to focus more and more on the moment when Roman and the others had escaped and finally nodded to himself.

"Alright, I think I got it," he mumbled to himself, after which he turned and left.

He figured from the start that whatever base the thief and White Fang had established wouldn't be anywhere near downtown Vale, where the likelihood of being seen and identified was far too high, meaning they would have had to hold up elsewhere.

But the problem with this is that it wasn't as if Vale was a small kingdom. The downtown area was easily a city in size all on its own, if not much bigger. This in turn meant that any and all residential, business, industrial and abandoned zones were equally large in size compared to the towns and villages that lied outside the kingdom's walls, meaning there was still a ridiculously large search area to cover.

Thankfully, his little mental reconstruction helped narrow the down the search a bit, if only in terms of direction.

By now, the thief would have likely moved elsewhere to recuperate and plan out his next move, but with any luck, Jaune may possibly find the thief's previous base and maybe locate a clue that will either help him locate Roman or at least allow him to possibly interfere with the thief's plans just a bit more quickly in the future.

Walking a little more quickly than before, Jaune headed for what he was hoping to be the correct destination.

In complete silence, he moved, just barely aware of all else around him, people going about their peaceful lives without a care, something that helped soothe him a little as he kept on going.

Five minutes go by, then ten and then twenty.

It wasn't until he hit the half hour mark that he realized just where he'd ended up at.

And his presence hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Oh, Jaune!" a young voice cried out.

Blinking, he turned to the left and spotted a lively Faunus boy jogging his way.

Seeing the boy, Jaune smiled a little. "It's been a while, Corrin."

Yes, he'd wandered back into the neighborhood where he'd initially stayed before Beacon. Now that he bothered focusing on his immediate surroundings, he recognized the area. He was still a fair distance away from Isaac's motel, which in turn meant he was also a little bit away from most of the other people he'd gotten to know.

However, Corrin here along with his friends Alisha and Mark were among the relatively few people, even if they were only kids, that ventured far out of the neighborhood.

Speaking of which…

"Where's the others?" Jaune asked, feeling a little concerned. It was extremely rare for the three kids to be apart.

"Ah, they had to help out their parents' shop," Corrin said with a bit of a pout as he got close, his beaver ears twitching in mild annoyance. But this pouting lasted only a second before he looked back at Jaune in joy. "But, hey, at least you're back! How are things at that Beacon place?"

Inwardly sighing in relief at Corrin's answer, Jaune then proceeded to give the boy a quick rundown of how things had gone so far at Beacon Academy.

The boy, only seven, looked at him with ever widening eyes. Though this area of Vale had little in the ways of safety and opportunity to move up in society, Corrin and most of the other kids here were still able to retain their innocence amongst the other traits typical of ones their age.

"W-Whoa, that sounds awesome… Maybe I should become a huntsman one day. That way, me and Alisha and Mark could all be on a team or something."

Chuckling quietly, Jaune patted the boy on his head. "Well, if you do end up being serious about that, make sure to work hard, okay?"

"Heh! Working hard is my middle name!"

Jaune quirked an eyebrow in bemusement. "Oh? Wasn't aware climbing on top of small buildings and jumping around was considered work."

"I-It helps me get strong!" Corrin replied, embarrassed and then tried to flex, making for a comical sight. "See?! Check out these guns!"

Jaune laughed for real, something that only got the boy even more embarrassed, but he was smiling too despite his face being all red.

"Oh, so what brings you back though?" Corrin then asked. "Came back to beat up the gangs again?"

"No… have they become a problem again?" Jaune responded, this time not hiding his concern.

"Nah, they've been staying away from around here thanks to you. You sure laid into them good!" Corrin pretty much waved off his concern.

"Ah, glad to hear then." That had been one of his concerns when he first dealt with the gangs. He'd sensed within them the possibility to turn their lives around provided they were given enough motivation, something he'd hoped his confrontations with them had succeeded in providing. Though they'd left the area well enough alone during the last week or so of his stay at Isaac's motel, he'd still been a little worried about what they may do.

He was truly glad to hear that if nothing else the gangs were no longer an immediate problem.

"Well," he began, now opting to address Corrin's question. "I'm actually in the middle of a little search."

Corrin's beaver ears perked up. "Search?"

Jaune nodded. "Afraid I can't say what exactly I'm looking for, but have you or anyone else seen or heard anything out of the ordinary over the past few days? Anything at all?"

The boy's answer was immediate. "Yep, sure have!" His little eyes lit up with good cheer. "You should've seen it, Jaune – just the other day, there was a loud 'fwoosh' over my house and when my dad and I ran out to see what it was, it was some crazy big ship thing flying right over us!"

Jaune pulled out his scroll and proceeded to look up a picture of a typical bullhead. "Did it happen to look like this?" he asked and showed Corrin the picture.

Corrin's head bobbed up and down several times in confirmation. "Yeah, definitely!"

"Did you happen to see where it went after that?"

"…Is this ship thing what you're looking for?" Corrin asked after a second. His expression was scrunching up now in slight worry. "Is it dangerous?"

Never let it be said that kids couldn't be perceptive.

"It is what I'm looking for, yes. But dangerous… no, it shouldn't be." Indeed, given his earlier line of thinking, Roman and the others would've already headed elsewhere, meaning the neighborhood shouldn't be in any immediate danger. That said, there was still a chance, however slight.

And if that was truly the case…

"But if it does turn out to be dangerous someway, I'll deal with it," Jaune stated firmly. "I'll protect you all, no matter what."

His words, spoken as intensely as always, were enough to immediately put the boy at ease, judging by the way he beamed.

"Yeah, we all know." The trust the boy had in Jaune was practically evident in his tone. "But yeah, me and my dad saw where that thing went."

He then pointed to the southwest and made a bit of a sweeping motion with his hand. "It went over there, like where the old shopping center was at, you know? But like, a bit more to our right…"

Jaune allowed himself a smile. It was generally in the same direction he'd been going in. But now thanks to Corrin's confirmation, he could reduce the search area even more.

"Got it. I'll go look right now. You be safe out there, okay?" Jaune said as he started to walk again.

"You bet! Oh, right, Jaune!"

Jaune paused and looked back at the boy.

"Make sure to stop by again sometime! We all miss ya!"

Touched, Jaune could only give the boy a firm nod and small smile before walking off, leaving the boy to continue on with his usual trek.

Now that he knew more or less exactly where to go, Jaune picked up the pace even more now, jogging lightly towards his destination.

It took him only minutes to cover the distance and he was immediately greeted with the sight of the old shopping center, which long ago had once been the main attraction of this neighborhood before more infrastructure and additionally more shops of higher and more attractive quality were built elsewhere, taking with it most if not all of the customers and employment opportunities and in turn leaving this center now destitute.

It had been this event that had marked the area's steady decline into its current state.

As such, this shopping center wasn't the only abandoned spot around, with many of the surrounding buildings and alleyways having long since been left alone as they decayed and fell apart, forcing the citizens here to try moving just a little further away.

Yes, this was definitely the place where the likes of Roman would hide, away from prying eyes. Only kids like Corrin or street punks looking for a nifty hang out spot ever really came this way anymore, but with increasing rarity.

Starting at the entrance to the shopping center and working his way to the right of it, Jaune scoped out each and every building with a critical eye. If it came down to it, he'd willingly search every single one of them for any signs of former inhabitance, but mindful of his friends' concern for his well-being, he was going to have to be a little quick. Just because classes were far from over for the day just yet didn't mean he'd be back in time for his trip to go unnoticed.

And although he'd left a note earlier, he was kind of hoping to get this done before the note proved necessary.

Thankfully, after only fifteen minutes of walking down the block, he spotted an alleyway that didn't quite seem as dirty and messed up as the others.

It was slight – smashed cans here and there along with weeds sprouting through the concrete, with some being flattened, but it was these very few signs that indicated someone had walked atop them at some point and semi-recently at that.

Going down the alleyway all the way to its end, he discovered that the building did indeed have an open space behind it in the form of a large abandoned parking lot, which had some scuff marks here and there on it.

These scuff marks were undoubtedly from that of a bullhead, he could tell by the general distance between each one. This indicated a rather rough landing and take-off. They must have been in quite a hurry to leave this place. Understandable, given the possibility that they may have been followed.

Heading back down the alleyway, the building did have a side door, the knob of which also wasn't quite as coated in dust as the rest of the place, again likely due to constant use and he wasted no time entering.

"Jackpot…" he mumbled as he entered.

The signs of people having once been here recently grew in number. Not only was the room he was currently in much cleaner than the outside already, but there were even some spots where some stuff must have been set down due to the dust displacement.

Still, just because he'd found their now former base of operations didn't mean he could take things easy just yet.

Keeping his right hand near his right sword, Jaune proceeded slowly to the nearest hallway, listening intently for anything out of the ordinary. Just because the place was clearly no longer in use didn't mean a trap or two might have been left for any wanderers.

Was he perhaps being paranoid? Maybe, but he's encountered his fair share of booby-trapped hideouts during his time on the frontier.

Heading towards the nearest door, he glanced at a faded logo on it and was just barely able to make the word 'restroom' on it, the paint having faded a lot. Opening the door slightly so that it was ajar, he could tell that this room was easily the cleanest thus far. He supposed even criminals had to worry about unsanitary bathroom conditions.

Closing it and heading further down, he now began his search for real, taking his time checking every nook and cranny.

Minutes go by as he thoroughly looked around every room and hallway he entered. Then a few hours go by, for this building, though a little on the small side compared to most other buildings in Vale, still had multiple stories to it.

As he did this, his paranoia over the possibility of a trap faded and he was able to pick up the pace a bit, but he still took things slowly overall.

It hadn't taken him long at all to realize that any chance of finding a clue of where they might have gone next was next to nil, but he kept on hoping anyways, hence why he dragged out the search.

And if nothing else, maybe they left behind something that could be taken to the proper authorities to be dealt with. Not that he was expecting to find some kind of weapon lying around or anything, but if he did come across something and ensured its disposal, it was one less thing Roman and the White Fang would have on hand, though he was certain they'd have their own ways of keeping themselves armed.

Ultimately, he found nothing. While this was expected, it still somewhat disappointed.

However, that didn't mean he was deterred.

Heading back outside, he made a quick revisit to the parking lot, where those scuff marks were at.

He neared them and kneeled, examining each individual one. He even went as far as to place a finger or two on them, as if trying to divine some mystical purpose from the markings, which obviously wasn't going to happen.

But he had his experience and his sharp mind about him still and by looking at the markings long enough, he got a feel for which ones were the more recent ones despite them all overlapping a fair bit.

Again, just because the bullhead turned to face a specific direction before lift-off didn't necessarily mean it had fully gone in that _exact_ direction, but in his experience just about every pilot would fly their aircraft in the _general_ direction they were facing just prior to lift-off.

Not exactly the most solid reasoning he's ever had for anything, but it was better than nothing.

Now if he just knew how far a distance a bullhead could cover before needing to refuel, he could better calculate the new search area…

…But that will have to wait until tomorrow or so.

Taking note of the sun's position in the sky, Jaune realized just now how much time has passed since he even left Beacon. Taking into account how long it would take him to get back to the air docks where he could then take a bullhead back to campus, he could just barely make it in time before classes let out for the day.

But to do that, he'd have to leave right now or else his team will head back to the dorm and see the note he left. In hindsight, he could only imagine how many times they might then try to call him to make sure he was okay and not pushing himself.

And though his injuries were already doing much better, to the point where he really questioned why it was even an issue anymore in his friends' eyes, he knew better than to risk worrying them unnecessarily.

Oh well, from the start, him leaving a note had been more of a minor precaution than anything else anyways.

Beginning his journey back to Beacon, Jaune silently vowed to return tomorrow to continue his search.

One way or another, he _will_ find where Roman Torchwick and the White Fang were now hiding. And when he did, he'll make sure this time to stop them for good.

Unbeknownst to him, at the exact same time he swore this, Roman and the remaining White Fang mooks from that night paused in what they were doing to shudder.

Why were they suddenly getting an ice-cold chill?

* * *

 **Heh, probably should've named this fic something catchy like 'Detective of Light' or something, right? Ha ha.**

 **But seriously, as you can see, Jaune is no slouch when it comes to analyzing things and figuring out extremely minor clues. Hopefully this doesn't come across as being too absurd somehow. And though he's done a pretty decent job so far of tracking Roman's tracks, rest assured, he's not going to be bumping into our resident thief again that soon.**

 **That said, as you can also clearly tell, the danger is far from over just yet, especially now that Cinder has entered the fray, though not completely just yet.**

 **May you look forward to the next chapter.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	11. Chapter 11

Been a long time since I've ever played Mortal Kombat. As in, I haven't played it since around the time of Deception or Shaolin Monks, kind of long time. I guess at some point I simply lost interest in the series though MKX did grab my attention for a while if only due to the fatalities and X-rays.

But now? After everything I've seen and heard of MK11, I'm considering playing MK again, ha ha. But of course, if I ever do go through with this, it won't be until after I tire of DMC5… and that's a long ways away, heh!

Speaking of which, managed to beat DMD mode, if only due to sheer perseverance and a boatload of Golden Orbs I've had in stock rather than pure skill during the last five to six missions, then blasted through Heaven or Hell mode in a single sitting. Have yet to play Hell and Hell and honestly I'm almost scared to given how much Son of Sparda and DMD mode kicked my ass, so once I get the trophy for beating Human mode (which I held off doing until now) and obtain all the upgrades for the characters, I'll consider giving it a try.

Will probably abuse the super costumes though when that happens, ha ha, especially for V since keeping him from becoming completely defenseless during that mode will be a true nightmare.

Whelp, my little spiel aside, not much else going on just yet though I am, of course, continuing my job hunt. Here's to hoping one day soon it will end!

Now onto the chapter!

P.S. **SaucyHandles** , yeah sorry about that. Mixing the tenses is a weird quirk of mine that I'm trying to be rid of, though it's hard to even be consciously aware of it. Hope you can bear with me as I work on that.

Chapter 11

"Umm, you know you guys don't have to come with-,"

"Jaune. We're coming. That's final."

"…Alright then…"

This was the super brief argument Pyrrha shared with her partner/leader/maybe something more(?) as they made their way off the bullhead as they were cleared for exiting it. Seeing the blond teen looking so subdued was honestly enough to make her smile a little, if only in hesitant victory.

After she, Nora and Ren had heard of what happened at the docks and saw the state he'd been in afterwards, she could admit that she, well, freaked out over things. It'd taken more than a little willpower to keep herself from nearly confining him to his bed for the rest of the week, but it'd been a hard struggle.

And just when she and the others had hoped Jaune would take it easy and rest up, the three of them had returned to their dorm at the same time Jaune had done so… which, of course, had meant he'd gone out of the dorm.

Having then interrogated him, she and the N and R of JNPR had found out Jaune had gone off into Vale to conduct his own little investigation, something that had left her with some rather mixed feelings.

On one hand, Jaune's tenacity in pursuing Roman Torchwick and the White Fang even after what had happened at the docks once again left her in shock and even a bit of awe. Rare were those who could dedicate themselves so wholly to any one thing.

But on the other hand, he'd done so with the knowledge he could very well run into trouble yet again and when he wasn't even fully healed yet. To say that had been reckless would be an understatement in her opinion.

Not only that, well… not that she could bring herself to voice it anytime soon, but something about how adamant her leader was in pursuing this line of action was honestly a bit… no, it was really quite unnerving.

Again, rare were those who could commit themselves so completely to any one thing. That her partner and friend could do so with such ease yet with such single-minded intensity was abnormal. Pyrrha could admit to being an idealistic person, but even then she was well aware that not everyone had such pure and selfless intentions.

There was always a reason for everything someone did and it wasn't always good in nature. Not that she was accusing Jaune of ever having anything even remotely sinister in nature for a reason, but there was clearly something more than mere idealism driving him in his actions.

This was something she's been aware of since day one, really, but the more time that passed and the more she observed her partner's actions and words, the more she came to realize that Jaune's mental state was truly different from that of pretty much everyone else she's ever met.

It just wasn't until he'd tried to make an instant beeline from their final class back to their dorm and then to the bullheads' dock to continue to his search from yesterday that she really became consciously aware of this fact.

And thus, she and the others had insisted on coming along, hence their current situation.

Speaking of which…

"Yeah, Pyrrha's right, fearless leader!" Nora exclaimed from beside her. The auburn-haired girl was pouting. "There's no way you're gonna go looking for terrorists without bringing me along for the fun!"

Jaune smiled a little awkwardly. "I see… Ren? Your thoughts?"

"Pyrrha's said just about all that needed to be said," the R of JNPR responded immediately. "Though we've confidence in your strength, there's only so much one person can do alone. This is especially true when you're still injured."

"Well, you do have a point there," Jaune conceded, looking sheepish. But then his expression defaulted to one quite serious and stoic – his neutral expression, Pyrrha has come to learn. "But I'm already doing much better already. Look – see?"

He lifted his shirt up a fair bit by its side, exposing a solid portion of his torso for all around him to see.

Before, which is to say right after the dock incident, he'd been covered in numerous burns and bullet wounds that were so large anyone else would be dead. Even with bandages and treatment and aura, healing from them would not only take a long time but could very well leave scars.

This should have been the case.

Instead, what Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and other passing people now saw was light colored skin, almost completely unblemished now save for faint burn marks and scars that even now seemed to slowly fade before their very eyes.

It was enough to make the redhead gape.

How was that possible? Aura was capable of a fair few things, from strength enhancement to the barriers that guard their bodies to powering their semblances. This also included healing. But as good as aura is, it didn't trump proper medical treatment unless someone had a semblance specifically geared towards healing.

Yet here Jaune was, his injuries now so minor that whatever justification she and the others had before fell completely apart.

It was as if he'd undergone entire months' worth of healing in the span of just a few days at best!

"T-That's…" she mumbled as she reached a hand out to feel for herself the wounds, some part of her mind convinced it was a trick of some kind.

But as she touched his skin, startlingly smooth and soft – also a result of aura? – she felt for herself that his wounds would likely be completely gone by tomorrow or so.

"W-Wow…" she then mumbled.

Her shock at his rapidly disappearing injuries now gave to a different kind of 'shock' as her hand slowly roamed over his obliques and his abs somewhat.

His skin may be surprisingly smooth and soft, but one could be easily fooled by how defined his muscles were under it…

Oh dear, was it even possible for one's muscles to be _this_ solid?

"Pyrrha," Ren suddenly called out. "You okay there?"

"H-Huh, what?! O-Oh…" She snapped out of her reverie and quickly withdrew her hand. "S-Sorry…"

"It's fine," Jaune replied as he pulled his shirt back down, utterly oblivious to her state just now as well as to the ogling eyes of the numerous women and relatively few men that had stopped and stared. "It is a bit out of the norm to heal that fast… but at least now you know that it wasn't as if I was being too reckless yesterday."

"A-Ah, y-yes, I suppose so," Pyrrha stuttered out as she tried to will her deepening blush away. "Even so, we're still not letting you do this alone anymore, Jaune. We're a team, after all."

The blond blinked once, then twice. "I… yes, you're right. Sorry."

"Well, as long as you understan-!"

"Hey there, stud~" a woman suddenly called out from the crowd. "Saw you showing some of the stuff just now~. Mind if I get another look later o-?"

"Okay, time to go!" Pyrrha suddenly cut the woman off, a big and fake smile of enthusiasm plastered on her face. "Haste makes waste, after all!"

She grabbed her partner suddenly by the hand and proceeded to drag him off deeper into Vale, now more than eager to help him search.

Her misgivings about all this aside, she wasn't about ready to just let some random women potentially come onto her partner.

Even if he did have some fantastic musc-.

N-No, don't think of it!

"Oho, already staking your claim, I see! I'm so proud of you, Pyrrha!" Nora commented – loudly, of course – as she followed after them.

And much like how she was dragging Jaune, Nora dragged a bemused Ren behind her. "Nora, leave her be. I'm certain her own thoughts don't need your encouragement."

Ah, and leave it to him to make a quiet yet spot-on observation.

Her blush returned and deepened.

And all the while… Jaune remained oblivious to this. And his comment couldn't have made this fact anymore clear.

"Uhm, we're going the wrong way…"

* * *

Mercury Black was by no means a nice person. He was an assassin, after all and one doesn't get to make a living out of this by being nice, at least not in any real sense of that stupid word.

He also wasn't the most cultured person around either, he'll admit, but that said, even one such as him could somewhat admire the sights around him for what they were.

He may not exactly be fond of any of the four kingdoms, but he was liking Vale's aesthetic so far. It sure beat Atlas' perpetual winter and Vacuo's equally perpetual summer desert. Mistral wasn't all bad, though all the wanna-be thugs and bandits and other criminals running around kinda makes it hard to enjoy the scenery.

Yep, Vale in comparison was pretty damn nice. It almost made him feel bad knowing that in due time it was gonna be leveled to the ground by the Grimm.

But he stresses the word 'almost' quite strongly.

Of course, this meant he was just going to have to try and enjoy himself as much as possible before then.

A damn shame his partner didn't feel the same.

"Ugh! Could this place be any more pretentious?" Emerald commented as she looked over a snazzy looking cafe. Looked like it was advertising itself as being high-class, or at least giving the illusion of being high-class.

And Emerald would know all about illusions, he supposed.

"You think every place here is pretentious," he drawled with a roll of the eyes.

"And you think every place is meant to entertain you," she shot back dryly. "Seriously, I swear you're like an overgrown kid."

"I prefer to think of myself as being able to enjoy the finer things in life," he replied with a fake air of sophistication. "Unlike you who only seems to enjoy kissing Cinder's ass."

Emerald went red in the face, but whether it was simply from indignation or something more, he could only guess. "H-hey!"

"Not like I'm blaming you or anything – she does have a nice ass," Mercury continued, enjoying how he was messing with her. "Still, you have to learn to broaden your horizons."

"That so? Maybe I'll expand my repertoire of ass-kicking moves then… by practicing on you one day soon," Emerald said quietly though certainly quite intensely. Seeing as they were out and about in Vale, they couldn't go talking about killing so openly, not even in jest.

"Ooh, I knew you loved me."

"Keep dreaming, Merc, keep dreaming." She then paused, looking a bit calmer now. "On second thought, stop dreaming, especially about me or Cinder – knowing you, it's all nothing but sick things."

"Pfft, now you're the one dreaming," Mercury remarked.

And on and on this went. Yeah, this about summed up the entirety of their relationship, if it can even be called that.

One would think that after so much time being spent (reluctantly) together, they'd get used to each other's quirks and other shit, but nope, they still irritated each other as much as they did when they first met.

In Mercury's humble opinion, however, he was way better at dishing out the snark. But then, he was nowhere near as uptight as Emerald here or some of the other people he's met via Cinder.

Anyways, it's been about a whole day since arriving here in this part of the kingdom of Vale and while he still had plenty of walking and window-shopping to do, he was already getting a bit bored.

Truly, the price of being a top tier assassin like him, he pondered – so good was he that unless he wasn't fighting or killing regularly, he'd get bored regardless of what new things he found to do.

Or so he liked to tell himself anyways.

In any case, like he'd told Cinder, he and Emerald would get around to killing that Tukson guy by today.

And that was exactly where the two of them were going to do right now.

He'd already looked over the info they had on the guy, from his appearance and list of crimes committed back when he'd still been part of the White Fang along with, of course, his new address as he went about trying to live a civilian life.

A bookstore, eh? Mercury was never one for much reading, at least not for entertainment purposes, but hey, maybe once him and his oh so lovely partner here put the guy under, they could find some comics or something.

Not like he'd have to worry about paying for them afterwards, after all.

* * *

Blake walked around Vale with a certain sense of caution around her. Once again, she'd gone without covering her cat ears and having now had time to acclimate to how things really appeared to be in Beacon, she dared to risk walking around downtown Vale.

Well, not like she had much choice really – as she'd decided just yesterday, she was intending to visit Tukson today, see how he was doing and what, if anything, he knew about the White Fang's current operations in Vale.

So, obviously, she was going to have to walk through Vale to reach that bookstore he now owns, though if she'd been anywhere near as secretive and paranoid as she used to be just weeks ago, she'd have taken to dashing across the rooftops to avoid having her Faunus traits seen.

Which once again went to show her how much it felt as if she's changed over the course of the past few weeks and especially the past few days.

Having been trained in stealth and espionage and the like, it was easy to take stock of other people's reactions as she passed them by and vice versa.

Some looked her way with varying levels of disgust, marking them as Faunus haters, racists. Others did glance her way but more out of interest than anything else. These people would've likely flirted with her had she given them a chance. Naturally, she didn't.

But the majority of people simply left her be, more content to go about their business than anything else.

This pleased her, but also somewhat concerned her.

It was nice to know that she'd been rather wrong about the level of racism present in Vale, but just because that seemed to be the case didn't necessarily mean it was a great thing now that she thought of it.

Racism may have eventually forced the White Fang to more drastic measures, hence their current status, but it was also the indifference of society at large that allowed the racists to prosper and subsequently pushed the White Fang to a breaking point.

"No, I shouldn't think that way," she mumbled to herself.

Just as she's made choices, so have the White Fang. Yes, in hindsight again, things may have grown bleak for them, but when push came to shove and they radicalized, not many members were all that opposed to using violence to get what they thought they wanted.

She should know because she'd once believed violence to have been necessary too… until the list of crimes committed started to grow too large and the body count too high over time, at which point she'd finally started to doubt just how effective the White Fang's new methods really were in obtaining their goal.

Not only that, but over time, when some members have also had enough and left the organization, it hadn't always been in the form of friendly departing. She's seen couples and families split up and friendships ended over their differing opinions on the White Fangs' future. More than a few fights had actually broken out between now former comrades.

The more she continued to think on this, the more she came to realize just how naïve she still really was and how arrogant she'd once been back then, when she'd thought the only harm done was human-on-Faunus or vice versa.

Only now did she seem to feel keenly aware that _everyone_ , human and Faunus alike, were capable of hurting those just like them.

Humans against humans.

Faunus against Faunus.

And all over what ultimately amounts to what they believed, be it some grand purpose or something small.

…

…Ah, now she was just getting too philosophical here, it seemed like. Even for a book nut like her, this wasn't quite how she'd thought she'd ever end up.

It was enough to make her laugh quietly at herself.

But in all seriousness, she now knew this to be the truth. After all, had she and Sun not fought against their fellow Faunus back at the docks this past weekend? Regardless of the circumstances, she'd raised her hands and weapons against fellow Faunus, which only further exemplified the points she'd just been dwelling on.

Well, it was about time to correct it, she resolved.

And so, with surprisingly perfect timing, she arrived at her destination:

Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun.

Catchphrase causing her to smile a bit in mirth, Blake entered the bookstore.

And as soon as she did so, the store's seemingly sole cashier was none other than the owner and man himself.

"Welc-!" the man had been about to say, only to stop abruptly upon seeing her. His eyes went wide, something that normally didn't happen; Tukson had always been a rather professional man, rarely phased so much, so it was a telling sign of just how shocking her sudden appearance was.

Blake smiled a little awkwardly. "Tukson. It's been a while."

"Blake?" The man, Tukson, was in complete disbelief. For a solid second too, it looked like he just froze up. But then right afterwards, his eyes seemed to light up, clearly having an insight. "Did you… did you really leave the White Fang?"

Blake nodded. "I did, yes. And, well, things happened afterwards and now I'm attending Beacon."

"…Heh, I see." Tukson now seemed to relax. "I've never pegged you as being too wrapped up in Sienna's nonsense. I'm glad to see you're doing well. Not to mention…" He motioned to her uncovered ears.

She nodded. "A lot has happened since I've left the group. But as much as I'd like to catch up with you, I'm afraid this isn't much a social call," she explained with sorrow.

Indeed. As nice as it would be to just catch up with an old friend, the sooner she could get some hopefully good info about the White Fang's activities, then maybe the sooner they could be stopped before they get used by that scum Torchwick any longer.

Tukson nodded quite seriously. "Right, I kind of figured. This is about that ridiculous smut series, right? You've always pestered me for getting the new books for you as soon as possible back then…"

"N-No, it's not about that this time!"

Tukson had the audacity to look surprised. But then he grew serious. "Ah, the White Fang then. Right."

Controlling, or rather attempting to control, the blush on her face, she nodded. "Even back then, you've always gone out of your way to keep track of the other cells' movements and plans. Do you still do so?"

"Yes. I have to. I'm still a wanted man by them, so it's practically necessary in case I ever need to close up shop and disappear." He then just stared at her, trying to ascertain what exactly she wanted to know. But before actually asking, he motioned to the door. "Flip the sign for me, would you?"

Blake flipped the open sign around so that it now read as closed to the street outside and looked around just in case any passing people got suddenly suspicious about the store closing.

Confirming the coast was cleared, she followed Tukson as he left the store counter and gestured for her to follow him through the door leading to the stock room for his store. No doubt, this was for additional privacy.

After doing so, Tukson folded his arms over his chest and looked to her. "Let me guess. You want to know what they're up to here in Vale, right?"

Blake nodded. "I'm not sure how much you've been keeping up with their activity in this kingdom let alone how you're doing so… but now more than ever, I need to know what they're doing. They've been hitting Dust shops recently… and alongside Roman Torchwick at that too!"

That got the man to quirk an eyebrow. "Huh, that's actually new to me."

When he said that, Blake inwardly despaired. Had she been too hopeful here?

"Does that mean you don't-?"

"I still have an idea of what's going on," Tukson quickly explained. "It's just that since going AWOL, I can't exactly be contacting my informants as often or as long as I used to. Same thing goes for the radio frequencies that I monitor."

Blake let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "So what do you know about their recent movements?" she asked in a neutral tone. Though Tukson was a good friend, it wouldn't do to look or sound too desperate, though this was more for the sake of personal pride than anything else.

"Not too much," Tukson started, looking a bit concerned. "They've been sending in a lot of men and firepower, that much I am aware of in addition to the Dust thefts for the most part, but once they arrive here, it's as if they suddenly go dark. Whoever's in charge of them all right now, they don't use the same radio frequencies I or my informants monitor nor do they seem to be making any official records."

Despite what some might think, just because it was a terrorist group didn't make the White Fang any less of an organization. And just like any other organization of considerable size, keeping track of everything through memory and oral communication alone was impossible. Therefore, documentation was needed to help keep track of things, just as they needed to also deliver written reports and turn in formal forms to requisition more supplies.

Yes, that's right, the White Fang was just as much of a victim or bureaucracy as any other organization out there. Just about the only real difference was the contents of some of the paperwork.

This was yet another thing Blake definitely didn't miss about the White Fang.

"If it's all off the books, then it'd normally be considered a covert op… but with all the manpower and weaponry I saw at the docks, it can't even be called that," she murmured.

Tukson blinked. "The docks… you were there?"

Now Blake was the one blinking, having not realized she let that slip. "Yes, I was," she quickly answered. Seeing Tukson's questioning stare, she launched into a brief explanation of what happened at the docks, though making sure to leave out the circumstances about her and her team that had led her to that point.

The puma Faunus' expression grew grim as she talked. By the end of it, he was positively worried, or at least looked as worried as she's ever seen him.

"Torchwick, huh? This really is a lot worse than I feared," he said. He stayed quiet for a minute, thinking hard. "I'm sorry to say again that I don't really have anything new to say about this… but if you'll give me about a week or two to dig into this, I can find something out."

Blake smiled softly. She hadn't even asked him directly to do any research, yet here he was, saying he'd do just that.

"Thanks… and sorry for dropping this on you."

He waved off her apology. "Though I may be making an honest living as a bookstore owner now, that doesn't mean I've just been twiddling my thumbs when it came to the White Fang. Now, I at least have a much more personal investment in figuring out what they're up to. If they've been snagging that much Dust for themselves, then it clearly can't mean anything good for Vale."

"Right." Blake narrowed her eyes as she agreed with him. Though the White Fang gathering so much Dust obviously wasn't a good thing, it was nice to know that someone else thought along the same exact lines as her.

And while she may not have exactly gotten any new info like she'd hoped, she now had a source of reliable info here.

"Ha, I remember how much trouble you used to cause me and the others back then," Tukson said with a bit of a smile now, switching tracks. "Figures that now really wouldn't be any different."

Blake returned the smile with one of her own. "You know you missed me," she retorted calmly, uncharacteristically talkative and relaxed.

Tukson snorted. "Not that mu-."

The sound of an opening door cut him off. Rather, the sound of an opening door made him freeze.

Blake too had ceased to move even an inch for a split second.

That had been the store's sole entrance.

Tukson narrowed his eyes, his muscles tensing. "…You called someone to meet you here?" he asked Blake.

Blake shook her head.

"Yeah, I thought as much. Stay here for a second," Tukson said as he headed for the door, only to pause for a moment and grab a nearby box. He must be intending to act as if he'd merely been sorting through new stock.

Blake made sure to hang further back in the storage room. And unlike last time, where she'd had to call her locker to deliver Gambol Shroud, this time she'd came armed to start with. She reached a hand for one of her blades as Tukson exited the storage room with box in hand.

As he did so, she had an idea. From what little she could hear with her ears, there seemed to only be two people out there. Not exactly the most intimidating number out there, but just in case…

She ought to call Jaune. Following the dock incident, they'd exchanged contact info and she knew he'd be going into town today for some reason along with his team.

As tempted as she was to call her own team – indeed, this was her very first instinct now – they were back at Beacon getting a head-start on their homework. They'd only let her take off alone because they wanted to show her they trusted her to not run off again. And now that trust was ironically working against her. By the time they get here, who knows what could happen.

No, Jaune and his team would be able to get here much quicker if things went bad.

She pulled out her scroll and began to silently dial the blond teen.

As she did so, she saw Tukson finally exit the storage room and speak to the two now in the store.

"Something I can help you two with?"

* * *

"Something I can help you two with?"

Those were the first words out of their target's mouth as he exited the other room.

Emerald, acting as casually as could be, took note of the Faunus' physique and posture. Though he'd left that stupid White Fang group, he still evidently kept himself in decent shape. That said, he didn't look like he was expecting to be engaging in a brawl.

Yes, other than looking a little suspicious of hers and Mercury's sudden entrance, he didn't seem like he was going to give them any trouble.

Yet, that is.

"Oh no, not really," Emerald then said smoothly while pretending to look around the store. As she did this, Mercury, childish punk that he is, strolled down the nearest aisle towards the comics section. "Just wanted to see if you had a certain book or two in stock."

The target, Tukson, quirked an eyebrow as he made his way towards the counter, placing the box he held in his hands on it. "Badly enough to ignore the 'closed' sign on the door? Must be quite the book."

Emerald smirked a little, bemused. No way this guy didn't know something was up by now, assuming he'd even been fooled at all to start with. Still, she had to hand it to him for being so calm.

"Oh, not really. I say want, but more like need – a text book for a class of mine."

"I see. Well, miss, I'm afraid I don't carry too many textbooks in stock – this store is more about books with stories, not purely informational."

"Yeah? Then what's up with the store slogan?" Mercury chipped in now, smirking as well as he looked up from some comic that he'd grabbed.

"It's good for publicity." Tukson shrugged as he leaned forward and placed both hands on the counter. "Sorry for that, miss. Is there anything else I can help with?"

Emerald approached the counter a bit more, tensing up inwardly for what was to come next. She did so quite boldly, however, for she had nothing to really fear here; she and Mercury were more than skilled enough to handle one former flunky, not to mention she had her semblance too.

Speaking of which, she'd been using her semblance on the man as soon as she'd laid eyes on him. How else would her weapons, now held openly in her hands, have gone unnoticed for this long?

"As a matter of fact," she began. "You can help – you can help by dying quickly."

Then, while the man was under her semblance's influence, she unsheathed her weapon in its sickle form and swung-.

But instead of slicing the man's neck and being done with this, her blow was suddenly deflected and deflected hard.

She turned to the left in surprise to see a black-haired girl wielding a sword, which had been used to swat her attack aside.

The girl glared at her fiercely and proceeded to lash out with another sword she wielded.

But as shocked as Emerald was, she still managed to respond in the form of unsheathing her other weapon and swinging it at the girl.

It cut right through the girl's form like a knife through butter. No, more like cutting through air. Sure enough, the girl's form had faded and the real one was already attacking again.

"Tukson!" the girl cried out as she swung her sheathed blade at Emerald.

The blades themselves were clearly quite thin, but the sheathe was large and heavy and it showed through in the blow having much more weight behind it; when Emerald deflected it, she was forced back despite having braced for it.

And just as she was forced back, their target made his own move. Picking up the box he'd initially been carrying, he threw it at Mercury and tried making a run for it.

Mercury, who'd taken to this sudden change of circumstances with mild amusement, simply kicked the box aside hard enough to split it open and send the books inside flying everywhere. Then on just one foot, he pounced towards their target.

The black-haired girl proved to have quite a soft heart going on, because rather than press the attack against her, she instead whirled around and tried to go for Mercury instead.

Not if she was going to help it though.

With just a bit of focus, she cast her semblance upon the girl and made her think she was striking her stupid partner when instead, she ended up slashing through a nearby book rack.

This gave Mercury all the time he needed to land a hit on Tukson, shooting him at the exact same time the blow landed.

Except, instead of killing Tukson, the blow only sent him flying with a cry.

Figures that even a former White Fang grunt would have his aura unlocked. And now that the surprise had been ruined, he's had time to get the shield up.

Still, he looked hurt now as he went crashing against the wall and Emerald had no choice but to break the illusion she'd cast on the unknown teen to look outside and ensure the people passing by outside were convinced nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.

Using her semblance on more than one person was always rough going, especially for long periods of time, but she lucked out – not many people traversed this street during this time of day nor did they linger for more than just a few seconds, so making them not hear or see anything amiss inside here was pretty easy.

Unfortunately, this focus meant the girl was now bearing witness to what just happened.

Without much of a word, she threw herself at Mercury successfully this time, making what looked like a clone to take the hit Mercury launched her way when he saw her coming. She then slashed at the grey-haired teen but when Mercury expertly twisted out of the way, she rolled with the momentum of her failed attack to get in between him and their target.

Emerald sighed, annoyed more than worried. While this was all less than expected, her time working with Cinder has taught her to deal with changes in the situations she finds herself in.

And while this could go wrong still, she and Mercury still had a chance to salvage this before things got way worse.

"Think you can get out of the way, kitty?" Mercury spoke up jokingly, poking at the top of his own head, mimicking where the girl had cat ears atop hers. "I promise that if you do, we won't have to cover up your death too."

The girl glared at him and shifted into a more defensive stance. All the while, Tukson got back on his feet, growling as he did so.

"Who the hell sent you two?" the man asked as he moved beside the unknown girl.

"That's not for you to find out," Emerald stated before Mercury could open his big mouth and say something stupid or incriminating.

She then switched her left weapon into its kusarigama form and swung it at Tukson whilst simultaneously using her semblance on both of them to make it look as if she and Mercury have yet to move.

She successfully wrapped her weapon around the target's neck and tugged tightly, immediately eliciting a gasp from the man as she dragged him forward.

She did this with enough force that if not for aura, the man's neck would've been instantly broken, but even if that had been enough to kill the guy, she still would've followed up with another attack to be sure.

Which is what she did now.

However, the man's loud gasp had alerted the unknown Faunus girl to something being up and she responded by suddenly switching the blade in her right hand into its gun form and started shooting wildly at Mercury who'd just started to approach her.

Her partner casually dodged the gunfire, even deflected some bullets by moving those stupid prosthetic legs of his into place, but since Emerald hadn't accounted for the girl getting _that_ reckless, she was unable to use her semblance in time to disguise the gunfire's noise from the people outside.

Sure enough, people gasped and screamed outside the store as the book racks got shot up and some of the glass windows got shot out too.

While that happened, Tukson struggled fiercely to break free from her chain's grasp. And while she had the advantage of leverage and all that, Tukson was still undeniably a big man and noticeably stronger than her. Though he couldn't brute force his way out of her weapon's grasp that easily, he in turn wasn't making it easy for her to reel him in close.

She had to settle instead for approaching him quickly and kicking at the side of his head while he was distracted by her semblance.

Her blow drew some blood as the tips of her shoe struck the side of Tukson's temple, but during that brief second of pure pain, the man was able to flail around and grab her by the ankle and tugged on her just hard enough to nearly bring her down.

She shook him loose after regaining her footing and slashed at his flailing arms with her other weapon. Thanks to his aura, he remained relatively undamaged, but however long he's been out of the White Fang had dulled his skills despite his obvious attempts to stay active and she could just feel that he was just a few more good hits away from his aura being fully broken.

But the unknown girl wasn't going to just sit idly by and let her do just that. Using what was clearly her semblance to make several clones in rapid succession, she was able to break through the sudden barrage of kicks that Mercury had launched her way in the interim and when she neared Emerald, she swung down at her weapon's chain with one sword while the other blade went flying towards her throat.

Though aura could prevent fatal blows like that, strikes to such vital areas drained more aura than when being struck in the side of the arm or leg since aura users would naturally prioritize the protection of their vital spots more than any other parts of the body. As such, Emerald didn't exactly favor losing a solid chunk of her aura and so she had to outright dodge lest she be hit.

However, in order to accomplish this, she had to let go of her weapon that had Tukson bound since holding onto it would've prevented her from dodging the entirety of the incoming blade's length.

And the girl didn't stop there, swinging several more times viciously with such speed that now Emerald found herself a bit hard-pressed to dodge them all, especially with all the shot-up books and glass shards now littering the side of the store she was on. She couldn't even focus long enough to activate her semblance.

Now fully annoyed, Emerald used the one weapon she still had to swat aside the girl's weapon just as she was about to bring it up in its gun form to fire at point-blank range and then kicked her hard in the chest, this time without a dumb clone to take the hit for the girl.

But the Faunus girl threw herself back just as she was struck and managed to make a cat-like recovery just as Tukson freed himself from the chain.

Mercury, now looking a bit put off by how tiresome this was getting too, decided to stop playing around as much and opened fire with the gun component of his right prosthetic, shooting several spiraling rounds that both Tukson and the girl just barely managed to dodge.

The girl returned fire in mid-dodge, however, and made a mad dash for the only other door around, with Tukson right behind her, slamming the door shut in the process.

"Well," Emerald began, now well and truly upset, both at the two targets who'd had the audacity to fight back so hard and at herself for having played around so much. "This is grinding my nerves."

"For once, Em," Mercury spoke. "I'm with you on that."

Mercury blasted the door to pieces, no longer caring for subtlety. That had gone down the drain when that girl had started shooting.

Both of them let out a 'tsk' upon just barely seeing their target and the unknown girl scrambling through another door that was somewhat visible at the very back of the stockroom. And just before going out of sight, the girl paused just long enough to fire several times, which had prompted them to move out of the way.

"Most likely in a back alley," Mercury murmured, now a bit serious. "Think we should give chase?"

Emerald bit her lip as she thought. On the one hand, failing Cinder wasn't exactly a good thing to do, but on the other hand, they'd already messed around enough and the current situation clearly reflected their mistakes up until now, what with all the chaos going on outside.

"No, we need to pull back," Emerald said a second later, trying not to sound as if speaking these words didn't physically hurt. "The cops are likely on their way right now and while we can take them, we can't be seen anymore than we have been already."

Mercury grunted. "Yeah, thought as much too. Come on."

He went for the front door without much care – pretty much everyone outside had already made a run for it, so they weren't in any real danger of being seen. Nonetheless, he moved quickly and Emerald followed right after him.

As she did so, she turned and glared angrily at the store. Or rather, in the general direction that unknown girl had taken their target in.

She'll admit that she and Mercury hadn't taken things too seriously. But if not for that damned girl, then things wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place.

Now the teal-haired girl was just itching for a little payback.

And with any luck, she'll get a chance at that in the near future. If not by her own two hands, then definitely when Cinder's plan finally brings this shitty kingdom down.

* * *

 **Overall, a fairly minor chapter, just meant to introduce Tukson officially into the story as well as further diverging from canon – in more ways than you may realize right now. In all honesty, Tukson was yet another one of those characters that I felt was criminally underused and I aim to try and correct that in a way that will make sense in the coming chapters.**

 **Now, don't worry – I'm aware that it looks like the antagonists are really getting creamed right off the bat here, but do keep in mind that this is due more to simply underestimating the changes Jaune and subsequently his friends are causing compared to canon. Consider the docks incident as well as this attempted murder to be their collective wake-up call; from here on out, Cinder and her subordinates will be taking things much more seriously and adapt as needed.**

 **Also, Blake and Jaune had really been the focus of the past few chapters. In the latter's case, this is obviously justified since he is the MC of the fic, but now the others will steadily get their chance to shine in various ways from here on out, just had to set some things up first is all.**

 **Hope you guys understand.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	12. Chapter 12

So, aside from DMC5, I do play Fate Grand Order too, as I believe I may have hinted at. Just beat Beast III/R semi-recently, with about 12 days left before the event was over… and by God, farming enough KP for all the Kiara Punishers was ridiculously long! But it was worth it – fully debuffed her and still had a fairly challenging fight, if only due to my craptastic team composition, ha ha. Also, managed to get Kiara herself after rolling pretty much all of my Quartz.

Only got the one copy of her though, so her NP damage is quite lackluster even with some buffs. Would be nice if maybe Delightworks would buff her NP in the distant future, but I'll make do.

Ah, but anyways, the point of my little spiel just now is that recently the Fate series in general has been giving me ideas for an actual Fate fic one day. Nothing too concrete just yet, just a very basic premise and the characters I would like to have involved… but of course, whether or not it would work is a different matter entirely.

Also been thinking of making a Maken-Ki fic of all things too. Not sure why though. Sure, I read it and its fights are fairly entertaining, but I never once thought of it as something that would stoke my writing streak like this.

Odd to say the least, but hey can't complain, right? It's always nice to have new fic ideas, ha ha!

But enough of that – onto the chapter!

Chapter 12

"…And that's what happened, headmaster," finished one Blake Belladonna.

Ozpin lightly wiggled the fingers resting atop his cane in response to what his student just explained. "I see," he stated in response. "Quite the surprising day you've had, Ms. Belladonna."

Just a little while ago, he, or rather Beacon, had been contacted about an incident involving a student of his – one Blake Belladonna. Apparently, a shooting had occurred at a small bookstore in Vale that she'd been present at about ten minutes prior to the call itself.

Seeing as this was the second incident the young Blake was involved in directly and with only a few days apart, once Ozpin learned of this incident, he'd decided to go to the police station himself to deal with the matter.

Glynda had enough on her plate as it is and he wasn't in a mood to be sitting at his own desk for much longer anyways.

On that note, he hadn't been the only one contacted, for the rest of team RWBY had evidently been called and had rushed to the scene and he himself had arrived in the nick of time to keep the temperamental team from physically steamrolling their way into the station.

They hadn't been the only team there either – team JNPR had been there as well alongside Ms. Belladonna and another man that he learned was named Tukson.

After having seen himself into a private room with these aforementioned people, he'd politely requested them all what exactly had happened.

Ms. Belladonna had done most of the talking, a mild surprise considering her normally withdrawn nature. The only times she didn't speak was when the other man, Tukson, had to interject and add on to some things since he was also directly involved.

…It was clearly obvious too that the two were hiding something from him. If he had to hazard a guess, it was likely White Fang-related. After all, Blake Belladonna here was once a member of the organization, now seeking to change her life around. And given her close friendship with Tukson along with the man's general build and demeanor, the ancient headmaster was willing to bet the man was a former member as well.

No doubt, they were trying to look into the recent actions of their former group and discreetly at that too.

Alas, as much as he'd like to ask them about it, doing so here with so many others here wouldn't be wise. Besides, though the B of team RWBY has come a long way in such a short time since starting Beacon, forcing her to tell him all her plans and the like wouldn't make her comfortable. Plus, her friends here would likely jump to defend her if they thought he even sounded accusatory.

Best to just keep his thoughts to himself then for the time being.

"So, to summarize," Ozpin began. "You headed to Mr. Tukson's shop for a new book and to catch up with him, and during this time he'd just been about to close the store for a while to open up and place new stock, something you decided to help him with. During this time that the store was officially closed, two people snuck in with the intent to not only burglarize the place but rob you two once they became aware you were there. Since the inside of the store was so confined, fighting them off and vice versa wasn't quite possible, so you deliberately fired shots to get the police's attention and then escaped through the back while the two were caught off guard. You also called Mr. Arc and his team for backup in case the robbers pursued."

Ms. Belladonna nodded. "That's right, sir."

"And you corroborate this?" he then asked of both Tukson, the other person directly involved and Jaune Arc, who was the one who received the call.

Both men nodded in agreement.

"I see," Ozpin mumbled. "Interesting. Firstly, let me start by saying that I'm glad all parties involved were all right… but if I may, I've a few questions of my own."

Though outright asking the two Faunus here of their real reasons for what happened was out of the question, prodding into it a bit more subtly was fair game.

"To reiterate, these two attackers of yours… one was a young man, the other a girl, yes? The man was grey-haired, light skinned and fought primarily with kicks while the girl was either teal-haired or had mint-green hair, brown skinned and wielded two sickles that could also extend to become chains?"

The two Faunus confirmed this.

Vale was a very diverse place, second only to Mistral really. Physical descriptions alone would only get them so far and that was assuming they even had any records. Finding the young man may be outright impossible without something truly distinguishing, but the girl may be possible to research – weapons were very distinct, after all, so looking into who possessed weapons similar to what was just described should be easy.

In any case, he very highly doubted these two were simple robbers. They were just too distinct and very few criminals in Vale were capable of going up against a huntress in training, even when taking into account the enclosed space of Tukson's bookstore.

Even if they really were robbers, targeting a bookstore for either lien or actual product to steal was bizarre, so much so that it was a first as far as he could recall. Thus, it was clearly wrong that they were robbers.

"You said you'd closed up the store before they'd gotten in?" he asked Tukson.

"Yeah, that's right."

Yet another thing that disproved the whole robber thing. No robber would spend time silently creeping into a place only to then engage in a fight that would naturally be loud, even when not factoring in the possibility of gunfire.

Whoever these two were, they hadn't gone into that store to rob it. Nor would the two Faunus have called for backup if their attackers really had been robbers. The mere fact they'd considered the strong possibility of being pursued by them meant the 'robbers' were actually after them…

Or rather, after just one of them…

Ozpin eyed Tukson silently.

Just when it seemed like the man was getting all too aware of his staring, Ozpin switched gears and proceeded to ask a few more questions. Nothing too special about them, just random standard questions that shouldn't raise any suspicion on anyone's parts.

As tempted as he was to just outright ask them about the real reason for all this, he felt it best to ask them a little later, away from prying eyes.

He held a great deal of faith in humanity – if he didn't, he wouldn't be opposing the queen this much, after all – but he was not so blinded by this faith as to believe the likes of Roman Torchwick didn't have his ways of digging up whatever dirt the police may find. If not him, then people far worse than him.

Call it paranoia, but he wasn't willing to discuss sensitive matters out in the open like this. So, he'll just have to do so later once back in his office, where it was secure and safe to discuss much more private matters.

With this in mind, he finished up his questions and then shook Tukson's hand. "I'm sorry for the damage done to your store. If it is all right with you, allow Beacon to take care of the expenses for repairing it."

"O-Oh." Tukson sounded surprised. "Much obliged. Thanks."

"Seeing as you're a friend of one of my students, would you like it as well if I took care of providing you temporary room and board? Not necessarily at Beacon, I'm afraid, but footing the bill for a hotel isn't out of the question. After all, I imagine staying at home after what just happened may be a little much, even for a man such as yourself."

"Ah, no, but thanks for the offer, headmaster," Tukson replied gratefully. "I can manage that part well enough on my own."

Ozpin nodded and then turned to address his students, most of whom had remained quiet up until now. "Well then, students, I believe it's time for us all to take our leave. I've a few things to discuss now with the police myself, so you all may enjoy the rest of your day… and Ms. Belladonna? Do try to avoid getting dragged into anymore scuffles." He said that last part with only a hint of bemusement.

"…I'll do what I can, headmaster," the teen replied.

Then without another word spoken, Ozpin left them all be, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before they all no doubt started discussing what really happened today.

And as much as he'd like to be a fly on the wall during that conversation, it would only be a matter of time before he can discuss it with the involved parties later at Beacon.

Until then, he really did need to speak with his police contacts. All this trouble that has been occurring in Vale recently was truly starting to get suspicious.

His instincts, sharpened over entire lifetimes, was telling him this was all nothing more than the prelude to something much bigger.

He had to start preparing for whatever it may be.

* * *

Once again, when Ruby began her day, picturing yet another newsworthy incident going down hadn't been something she'd been expecting.

Especially not one that Blake got wrapped up in, _again._

Seriously, she hoped this wasn't going to become a regular thing!

Anyways, after she, Weiss, and Yang had stormed over to the police station to check on Blake and her friend, that Tukson guy, it'd come as a real surprise to see the headmaster there too.

It'd scared her a bit to see him there, worried that maybe he'll somehow find out about Blake's White Fang history and have her locked up, but amazingly nothing of the sort happened, which really did wonders for her nerves.

But it sure had been a surprise to see team JNPR there too, but somehow wasn't a surprise at the same time.

Probably because as of now, she was just starting to get used to Jaune being involved all the time now. He was a super big helper like that. But just what had he and his team gone into Vale for, though? The whole time the headmaster had been asking questions, her fellow leader had looked like a man on a mission.

This was something her friends seemed to notice too, but in their own ways.

"Hmph, and even after our 'heart to heart' conversation, you do this," Weiss grumbled. "Do you still not trust us?"

"And you call Jaune up instead too~. And only him at that~," Yang teased. "Oho, look out, stud, I think someone has a crush on you!"

Again, Ruby thought in slight embarrassment, her friends noticed this in their own ways.

"It's not like that," Blake mumbled, too tired to really protest either of their comments. The B of the team looked to Pyrrha, however, who was sporting a troubled expression. "And it's really not like that," Blake stressed to her.

Pyrrha looked away, embarrassed by something. Ruby wondered why.

Anyways, this is how time was passed as they all left the police station, Weiss grumbling, Yang teasing, and Blake refuting them while she, team JNPR and that Tukson guy merely watched on with varying levels of amusement.

It wasn't until they left the station and were well away from it that things took a change.

"So," Ruby began, taking the initiative here. After having wallowed in confusion and sadness when Blake's Faunus heritage and White Fang background came to light, the young girl refused to allow that to happen again.

She had to be a better leader, for both her sake and for her team's sake. That meant learning how to be a bit more decisive on what to do and doing it swiftly.

"What really happened, Blake?" she asked, doing her best to look serious.

Amazingly, it worked; the humorous conversation that had been going on now came to a sudden end and Weiss and Yang shot Blake some super-intense looks while team JNPR remained quiet and watched.

And unlike before, when Blake had been all too hesitant to really express herself until Weiss had pushed her buttons one too many times, this time Blake merely sighed, but nodded all the same.

"…Let's find a place to sit down first."

Either by pure coincidence or some hand of fate, they were near that café they'd been to before, where she'd called team JNPR over to tell them about Blake.

Due to the time of the day, the streets were bustling with more people than ever and this included the café, but they were still able to find a large empty table off near the back of the entire place.

They took the time to order something to drink and after grabbing a few extra chairs from a nearby table to accommodate everyone and getting comfortable, the talk finally began.

"Like Blake, I used to be a part of the White Fang too," the Tukson guy began quietly.

That sure threw them all for a loop.

Ruby nearly choked on some of the chocolate chips in her ice cream shake from the surprise.

Now that was one way to suddenly start a conversation!

Trying not to be too obvious as she pounded her own chest to regain control of her breathing, Ruby then spoke up. "So," she wheezed out in between a cough or two. "Was your 'catching up' really about… well, 'them?'"

Blake nodded and took things from there. "After the organization radicalized, all of its human members were kicked right out and any and all human support was ignored from then on, if not outright dismissed. The White Fang had decided that if it was to achieve its goals, it would be through Faunus hands and Faunus hands alone. Help from humans was simply not in the picture anymore."

"So now that Torchwick seems to be helping them…" Ruby provided.

"Something big must be going on," Blake confirmed. "There's just no other way that they'd work with a human at all, much less a bastard like him."

"Hmm, I see. So, I take it you went to him here to come up with some kind of plan?" Weiss asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"And you were intending to leave us out of it?!" Yang sounded positively hurt at being left out.

Blake at least had the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry, it really wasn't my intention, but I just thought I should first see what we were dealing with before bringing it up with any of you. I swear, that's what I initially was going to do."

"And would we have been included in this too?" Ren suddenly piped up from where he sat. Unlike the rest of them who'd bought drinks here, he'd brought his own self-made health shake. The sickly green color of it was nearly enough to make Ruby gag. Just how could he drink those?! And why was Jaune drinking one too instead of these awesome shakes?!

"Yes," Blake admitted. "You helped in looking for me when you didn't have to. That's more than enough for me to confide in you guys too."

"Unfortunately," Tukson spoke up. "Despite Blake's heartwarming words here, there's really not much to confide. At least, not yet."

"What do you mean?" Now it was Pyrrha that spoke, somehow managing to look every bit the serious champion she normally was in the midst of a spar despite taking comically large sips from her shake in between each word.

She must really like that shake, Ruby felt.

"Back in the day with 'them,' I was mainly in a support role, doing equipment maintenance and monitoring various radio channels, that kind of thing. I wouldn't quite call myself a tinkerer, but that stuff was something I genuinely liked to do," Tukson explained, pausing now to take a large sip of his own shake. "Even though I've left the group, I still do what I can to monitor their radio channels, even maintain my own information network. It's not much worth boasting over, but it's enough to get the job done. Leaving the group in the dead of night isn't exactly something they turn the other cheek to, so I have to stay aware of their movements in case it seems like they might've figured out where I've gone."

Ruby's eyes practically lit up at those words. This Tukson guy was basically a spy of sorts! How cool!

Quickly reigning herself in before she could squee, however, she asked him something. "So, does that mean you know about their movements here in Vale?"

Tukson shrugged. "Somewhat. I'm aware of them doing the Dust thefts, but them working with Torchwick was news to me when Blake told me what was going on. She told me about the docks already too."

"Then," Ruby began, trying not to sound hesitant here. "Do you think you'd be willing to help us?"

The man smiled a little. "Don't have to ask, kid; would've been monitoring them much more thoroughly anyways. I may not be some paragon of virtue, but I left the group because their increasingly radical views and methods were sickening me. And watching them continue to degenerate like this without doing anything isn't my style."

Ruby could do a dance for joy right here and now, except she didn't know squat about dancing and she was still trying to be a more serious leader too. Serious leaders don't break out in song and dance, at least not publicly.

"While that's great to hear," Pyrrha then said, sounding apologetic. "If you do find out what the White Fang will be up to next, what will you do with the information? I mean, wouldn't it be best to give the information to either the police or to Beacon?"

"Pyrrha's right," Weiss commented. "Though we're all aspiring to be huntresses and huntsmen, we can't just go about taking the law into our own hands. Unless there's absolutely no choice but for us to act as quickly as possible, I don't think we can just leave the headmaster and the police in the dark. What if something goes wrong? What if we jump into things and get stranded without any immediate backup? Blake, you and Sun could've possibly been killed at the docks if Ruby and Jaune hadn't been in the area to provide assistance. Do you intend to try repeating that incident so soon?"

Blake flinched, but looked Weiss in the eyes when she answered. "I know it sounds like we're being too reckless here, dumb even… but Weiss, please remember our situations here. Tukson and I… though Vale is much better than I initially thought it was, racism is still present here. And racism is something the two of us grew up dealing with. It's what led to the divide between humans and Faunus in the first place and during these conflicts, figures in power have never done us much good. In fact, quite a lot of them have done the Faunus harm, in some cases intentionally."

Now it was Weiss who flinched but relented with grace. "…Right. Sorry."

"It's fine." Blake smiled softly. "We're trying to be better about all this, but it's not exactly something we can get over in just a few days time."

"Not only that, but it depends on the info I can dig up anyways," Tukson added as he quickly finished off his small shake. "Whatever I find next could just be some random stuff that'll serve us no purpose or will be so vague that reporting it to anyone will only lead to pointless goose chasing. If the goal is to stop these Dust thefts and subsequently whatever the White Fang have planned for afterwards, then we need something to really work off of…. And that kind of information isn't something that'll just conveniently pop up in a day or two."

"Bah! So we gotta wait before kicking some butt?!" Nora whined, thankfully in a quiet enough voice to not draw unwanted attention. Ruby was amazed the girl could be so quiet yet somehow yell anyways.

"Eh, not much we can do about that, right?" Yang commented with a shrug. However, it was obvious she was a bit bummed too. She may not exactly be the most fight-happy person around, but Ruby knew her sister was itching for a little real action.

Ah, but there was one person who hasn't made his opinion known just yet though…

"What do you think, Jaune?" Ruby then asked her fellow leader, who has been remarkably quiet this entire time.

All of them turned to look at him as he sat there, polishing off his health drink ("Ugh!" Ruby mumbled under her breath at the sight of it), seemingly lost in his thoughts the whole time. He blinked a few times in dull surprise when all their eyes were on him.

"Hm, what?" he said oh so eloquently.

"You've been awfully quiet about all this, Jaune," Pyrrha replied to his words.

"Yeah, makes us feel kind of awkward for leaving you out of this, stud," Yang said next.

"Come on, fearless leader! Tell us to smash up some criminals!" Typical Nora.

"Or," Weiss began flatly in response to Nora's words. "Do things the legal way and avoid any potential PR messes."

Jaune blinked again before finally speaking. "Oh, well there's really not much we can do about that just yet. In fact, until we do have some info to work with, there's no real reason to do any extensive planning."

Tukson nodded in agreement. "He's right. Having plans is nice and all, but no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Realistically, all you guys can do is just stand by until I figure out something first. Then, depending on what my efforts turn up, you'll either have no choice but to move in on your own to deal with them or go to the authorities with it. It'll ultimately depend on the circumstances at the time."

Ruby did her best to not let out a childish groan – she drinks her milks, for crying out loud! She's no child! – but failed somewhat, earning her some looks of amusement from the others. "But…!"

"Ruby, Tukson and Jaune are right. There's really not much to do until he does what he can first. Speaking of which… what do you plan to do from here on out, Tukson?" Blake spoke.

The man shrugged. "Well, first thing first, head back to my place, assess the damages and see if it's worth the risk of staying there. In all honesty, most likely not, but better to be sure before doing anything that might somehow put me in danger again any time soon. No guarantee those two assassins won't be gunning for me again, assuming others don't get sent my way instead."

"Don't you have anywhere else to go?" Ruby asked in worry.

"I do – a safehouse, a personal one of mine," Tukson replied. "I haven't had any reason to use it though, so it's a little barren. Will have to grab whatever essentials I need from home first before heading there if need be. And I don't just mean basic necessities like clothes and the like – I'm talking about my personal equipment too. I'll essentially be moving the equivalent of a comms center elsewhere, not exactly something that can be done quickly… but doing it during the night should be easy enough."

"How we will stay in contact with you?" Weiss asked.

"Gave Blake my number earlier. It's obviously not a number in my name or anything, so if anyone somehow gets a hold of her scroll or is otherwise monitoring it, they'll just think it's a sale call or something. The two of us also have another way of staying in touch, an old method used by the White Fang – and don't worry, it's not a method anyone else can interfere with or anything; it's safe."

"I still feel iffy about this…" Weiss mumbled.

"I do too actually, but it's all we can do for now. Alerting the authorities won't do much good if we don't have anything to tell them in the first place," Blake responded.

"I know, I know, it's just…" Weiss huffed. "I don't like being on the sidelines here anymore. After what you and the others went through at the docks…"

"Don't worry, something will come up," Tukson said. "Once I put my mind to it, I'll find something out. It's just that up until now, I haven't had any reason to dig too deep so long as I was still safe. But obviously things have changed."

Tukson then stood up with a slight grunt. "In any case, I think we've figured out what has to be done… not that there was that much to figure out anyways. Not yet at least. Time I get going – sooner I'm back at my store, the sooner I can get started on all this. As sudden as this all was, nice to meet you all. Any friends of Blake are friends of mine."

Offering them all a small smile and patting Blake gently on the shoulder, Tukson turned and left, throwing his now empty shake in the nearest trash can as he did so.

They bade him a quick goodbye as he did this and sat there in silence until a few minutes after he left.

"So," Yang began. "Is there really nothing we can do. Cause I'm not sure I can just kick back and twiddle my trigger fingers until he does whatever he has to do."

"Seems that way…" Pyrrha murmured uncomfortably, undoubtedly feeling the same way.

They all felt that way, really.

All of them except for Jaune, it seemed.

"Not quite," the blond said. Once he had their attention, he spoke. "Yesterday, I went back to the docks to try and backtrack the bullhead's flight path. I was able to follow it to Vale's older districts, the abandoned ones. Someone even confirmed a bullhead having gone in that direction."

Ruby perked up in her seat. So was everyone else.

"Wait," Ren suddenly up. "Is that where we were going earlier? You never quite made it clear what we'd been about to do."

Jaune nodded. "That's right. I'd actually found their base – well, their former base, that is. I've no idea how far away they could've gone but given whatever plans they have in mind for Vale, they likely couldn't have moved that far away from Vale. After all, if they plan to rob anymore Dust stores, they'll have to do some surveillance first, get a lay of the surroundings and plan out their entrance and exit routes. Having to travel far distances to do even that much would be impractical if they're on some kind of deadline."

Whatever feelings of anxiety Ruby was having along with the others were now gone. "Seriously?" Ruby practically squeaked out, positively happy now. Super-impressed too by that detective work, but mainly just happy.

Jaune nodded. "Earlier, in between classes, I looked up how much fuel a bullhead can carry along with its efficiency rate. I'm not exactly a mathematician or anything, but I've a basic idea of how far they could've gone, so it's just a matter of forming a perimeter for the search area and looking there… but of course, there's still a chance they may have accounted for that."

"But there's still no way to know for sure, right?" Yang asked.

"Right."

Yang was pretty much standing now. So was Nora and surprisingly Blake was too. Or well, not so surprisingly in hindsight – all this White Fang stuff was pretty personal to Blake, Ruby realized.

"Then what are we doing standing around here?! Let's go sea-!"

"Wait," Weiss said. "As great as that all is, I can't imagine the search area being on the small side. Would I be correct in this assumption, Jaune?"

He nodded calmly. "If I'm right about the search area's size, we're looking at a search radius of at least fifty plus miles. This is assuming they flew that bullhead on much less than half of its fuel tank to begin with. And again, accounting for the sake of their own convenience, it's likely a bit smaller than that…"

"But no way to know for sure," Weiss finished for him. Jaune nodded again. "I see. And if I recall correctly from Beacon's history and economics books-."

"You actually read those kinds of books?! For fun?!" Nora sounded absolutely shocked.

Weiss turned to her, bemused. "Yes, I do. Anyways, those districts, though abandoned and run down, are by no means small and simple; the further in you go, the more convoluted the streets and alleyways become. To be expected of Vale's initial construction efforts back then. Since it's highly unlikely they'll be advertising their base of operations, if we do search, we'll need to go from building to building and clear each one thoroughly…."

On and on, Weiss droned. And the more she talked, the more discourage Ruby felt now.

Sadly, her partner made a darn good point. That was a lot of ground to cover. And with no way to know when the next big theft will occur, it'd be way to impractical to search for them unless they had a way of seriously narrowing down the search area.

Not only that, but it wasn't as if they could just search indefinitely; they all had to eat and sleep and stuff, not to mention classes.

Argh, being a hero sure was tough!

"But even so, we got to try, right?!" Ruby said fervently.

And Jaune, despite his comments indicating he agreed with Weiss, immediately nodded in response. "Of course," he said, as if what she'd said was the most natural thing in the world. "Searching so large an area may be impractical, even detrimental, but doing nothing will only achieve nothing. We will never know for sure if we never even try. Unfortunately, since it's now late, searching for them during the night won't be practical. Given this is the White Fang we're talking about, they have the advantage of night vision in addition to whatever weaponry and manpower they immediately have on hand. While I'm confident in our own odds, there's still a chance we could end up endangering some of the surrounding districts in Vale, the populated ones – and I swore to them that no more harm would come to them."

Not for the first time, Ruby blinked. She was totally on board with everything he'd been saying until the end there. Once again, it looked like there was a lot more to Jaune than meets eye.

Ah, but that was cool too, the way he just talked all seriously and leader-ly like that!

She still had much to learn, clearly. And the more she saw Jaune in action or heard him speak, it became that much clearer that he had a lot of experience.

She couldn't imagine what sort of experiences he must have had prior to Beacon to end up this seasoned a trainee… but for the sake of fulfilling her dream of becoming a huntress and helping people, she definitely wouldn't mind learning from him.

And that was something she now intended to do much more thoroughly from here on out.

But first…

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "So how about this weekend, we all meet up bright and early in the morning to do this search. We'll two full days so we're gonna have some chance at finding these crooks, right?"

Everyone then made their affirmation of her proposed plan known in some way.

Weiss, Jaune and Ren nodded quietly but with firm resolve, especially Jaune, always the intense one.

Yang and Nora grinned and fist-bumped, no doubt already imagining finding the White Fang and Torchwick and kicking butt and breaking legs in stylish fashion.

Pyrrha smiled and mumbled a soft 'yes!' under her breath, but there was no mistaking the enthusiasm in that one word.

As for Blake, the B of team RWBY looked around at them all and then to Ruby with what the girl could only describe as disbelieving hope. Like, she was surprised over everything playing out this way, but now that something was actually being done and sounded possible, that it was okay for her to truly hope again.

And as if realizing this herself, Blake mouthed a silent 'thank you' to Ruby.

Ruby felt her smile grow even more in response to her friend's now swelling faith in her. The young leader could even feel hope blossom within herself too.

This was it, she thought, the beginning of what may be a grand adventure.

Despite the high stakes, the silver eyed girl couldn't wait to see what was in store for them all.

* * *

Several hours have passed since Mercury and Emerald returned from their stroll through the city. And before they'd even made it through the door to the base, Cinder had already seen on the news what had happened.

Needless to say, when the two had given their report to her of what had happened, which only expanded on what the news had said, it was as clear as day that her two normally competent lackeys had messed up.

And needless to say as well, Cinder wasn't all that pleased with how things had gone.

Even now, she was inwardly seething despite her best efforts to remain calm. It'd taken an effort to keep from burning the two for their failure, and Roman's silent mocking of those two as they'd explained hadn't helped her mood.

It was ridiculous how childish and petty three of her many pawns were.

It was even more ridiculous to think still that Mercury and Emerald, both fairly skilled and powerful themselves, had flubbed an otherwise simple assignment.

That said flub had occurred pretty much first thing upon their arrival here in Vale and right after chiding Roman for his own recent failure seemed like a bad dream.

Further igniting her temper was what her two subordinates had told her. Rather, how Roman had reacted to what the two had said.

When they'd described the appearance of the teenaged girl who'd interfered with their assassination, Roman had taken a quick second to point out it was the same girl who'd initially tried to stop the operation at the docks.

"I'd recognize that stupid cat anywhere now," he'd said at the time.

According to what Roman had then said after that, it would seem this girl – one Blake Belladonna – had once been a part of the White Fang, having gone rogue semi-recently. He knew this because some time after the docks incident, word of what had happened there spread through the White Fang grapevine and some of them identified the girl and passed this info back to Roman.

It would seem the girl had not only gone rogue but now clearly didn't have a problem making a ruckus for her former group. And judging by the docks incidents, she clearly had friends that didn't mind backing her up.

Really now, Cinder decided with a huff, how irritating.

…No matter. As frustrating as it was for two speed bumps to suddenly present themselves, they were still ultimately speedbumps. If this Blake girl and her friends intended to keep interfering, there was only so many times they could stop her pawns from carrying out their assigned roles. So long as Roman continued to make up for his recent failure, the plan with the train will proceed on time.

As for this Tukson, he was ultimately the White Fang's problem, one she'd merely thought to help deal with if only to keep those self-righteous idiots placated without having to outright threaten them. In any case, he will still be dealt with at some later point in time, but there wasn't much need to rush things now. Besides, the man was no doubt now on guard and would put up a fight and thereby cause another unneeded racket.

The real problem came in the form of the girl's presence there, actually.

Judging by what she's learned about the docks incident, this Blake was likely affiliated with Beacon in some form or another, perhaps even a student herself somehow. Cinder came to this conclusion through the simple fact that there's no way several teens of such apparent skill and ability could not be huntsmen and huntress trainees.

Oh, sure, it was possible they weren't, but those odds weren't exactly high, especially when considering how willingly they'd thrown themselves into the conflict to try and stop Roman and the White Fang grunts he'd been given.

Given that part of her plan had been to infiltrate Beacon as transfer students alongside Mercury and Emerald, that was no longer an option now that the girl knew the latter two's faces and had likely passed this knowledge onto others.

This was the only real pickle she had to deal with here. And unfortunately, there weren't exactly others lining up at her door to take Mercury's and Emerald's places in this plan.

But she was adaptable, had to be in order to make it this far in life and to bring her plans to this stage. It would be a while before she was supposed to infiltrate Beacon anyways so she would have until then to figure out how to address this problem.

Worst comes to worst, however, she may have to forgo posing as a student and infiltrate another way. Maybe not as a professor but perhaps some other form of faculty or staffing.

If need be, she could commandeer that Neo girl that always hung around Roman and use her semblance to provide a decent disguise. But that wasn't a card she felt too inclined to play unless left with no other choice.

Cinder sighed. It would seem she's underestimated the diligence of her potential obstacles a fair bit. This won't happen again, she resolved.

…

…

Thinking long and hard for a while, Cinder eventually picked up her scroll and called Roman.

As annoying as the thief could be, he was nothing if not punctual – he answered on the first ring.

"Something come up again?" he grunted out, not hiding his annoyance that much with her.

"No. I've merely thought up something and I need some people on it," she said.

"Oho. Hold on a quick sec then – let me get some breathing room on my end." Earlier, after having passed on the name of that Blake girl to her, Roman had to head out elsewhere, specifically the club of one Hei Xiong, otherwise known as Junior. He'd gone there with the intention of paying the man for some extra manpower.

With numerous members of the White Fang caught at the docks and others still injured from that same incident, Adam Taurus' White Fang cell wasn't all too eager to be sending even more people their way, especially since it wasn't as if they had an infinite supply of manpower. So Roman had to improvise and try refilling their lost ranks another way.

"Alright, so what do you need now?" Roman finally asked after a moment.

"I take it someone as brilliant and feared as you," Cinder drawled out, not quite able to keep from sounding sarcastic. Though not as angry anymore, her mood was still rather sour. "Has some connections with the police, yes? Or at least some way of obtaining records from there?"

Roman glowered in response to her sarcasm but didn't comment on it. Good, looks like he still knew better than to test her patience. "I've my ways, yeah."

"Good. Then try and get the reports for either the docks incident or this recent one. Confirm whether or not this Blake Belladonna is affiliated with Beacon in some way and then try to do some reconnaissance – I want this girl watched just in case she tries to interfere again," Cinder began.

"…Alright, that can be done. Not right away, but by next week at the latest," Roman replied. "And I take it you want to find out who she's friends with too? Get them surveilled too?"

"If at all possible, yes. You did say three others had been there at the docks as well. They're allies of hers at the very least and it wouldn't surprise me if they'll get involved too. Watch them and if it seems like they may be stumbling onto our operations again that they either get deterred… or are taken out for good this time."

"That'll really be stretching our manpower thin, you know."

"I'm not asking for an entire squad to be watching each individual, Roman. Just pick a few of the most competent people you have at hand and have them watch out for these pests during the early weekday afternoons and through all of the weekends."

Roman sighed. "Most competent… the bar for competence here is pretty low, you know? These damned animals are useless for the most part outside of firefights with the police and your other average law-abiding chumps. And Junior's guys don't have that stellar a track record either in my personal experience."

"I'm well aware," Cinder replied in a flat tone. "Just pick the ones you believe will be least likely to ruin this and get them on it. Either that or call in that little imp of yours. I'm certain Neo would be vastly more preferable than them in handling this assignment."

"Fine, fine," Roman said, mildly frustrated. "I'll do what I can, alright? But either way, we're really stretching ourselves thin here."

"I'm working on ways to rectify that. You just focus on what needs to be done now," Cinder responded. "Now get to it. The sooner this is addressed, the sooner you can be done with your part in all this."

She then hung up before Roman could continue to complain.

But for all his complaining, he was right. What forces she had at her disposal were being stretched thin indeed. And despite the hold she had on Adam Taurus and those under his command, there was only so much she could make him do considering his own circumstances. And while she really couldn't care less for any of her pawns and their pathetic issues and crusades, abusing them needlessly will not lead to anything productive.

Like she told Roman just now, she really would have to work on better ways to figure this all out.

For now, however, as long as Roman carries out what she told him and the people he selects to do this new job don't screw up like the others have so far, things should hash themselves out well enough.

As long as she was still able to get the train ready in time for the next phase of her plan and take over the CCTV tower in one way or another, everything will still proceed smoothly. For at that point in time, all she'll have to do is just kick back and wait for the right time to bring this illusion of peace crashing down on the world.

And then… once that's done, she'll finally be just one step closer to her true goal.

* * *

 **Yet another set-up chapter. Hope you guys don't mind. It's not yet time for it to be just one action scene after another just yet, ha ha.**

 **So yeah, from here on out, Cinder will be more active and reactive to the going ons of our protagonists and vice versa, though the latter are obviously not yet aware of everything in play.**

 **As for Ozpin, he too will start to play a bigger role in all this as well, but gradually so. He won't truly be stepping into the limelight for quite some time, but when he does, I hope I will be able to make it suitably epic.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	13. Chapter 13

It's finally happened, people – I finished writing my novel! Effin' YES!

For those of you unaware, a long while back, I started writing was to be my second original novel and it was turning out to be a real doozy – easily more than 300 pages long and counting! Until, well, I wrote myself into a stump of sorts. Not only that but the entire premise that I had thought was solid enough was looking less so as I kept on writing.

And so, I ended up pretty much discontinuing it and rebooting it from almost the ground up – same MC and to some extent the other characters, but with a reworked setting, character backgrounds and plot in order to accommodate what I now knew to be what I wanted to do.

From there, I got to work. With a much better idea of what to actually do, I started writing this rebooted novel in the last few days of October of last year (2018) and alternated doing a single chapter for it and a chapter for my fanfic at the time – Mayflies of the Dead – and eventually this fic until I finally finished the first book of a planned trilogy just a few days ago!

Or so I say now, ha ha. Though I do plan to do a trilogy, I'm the type of writer to plan out the major stuff I want and then just let the smaller details pretty much form themselves as I write. Not the most trustworthy method, but the most natural one for me. For now, it looks like it'll be a trilogy, so the fact that this doesn't seem to be changing in my mind anytime soon is a good sign.

That said, I can't quite go and publish it just yet – need to think up a summary to write, which is always the hardest damn thing to do, especially since this first book is all pretty much just set up for the second one which will be the main 'meat' of the entire story. I also need to come up with a cover for the book too. Was thinking of doing something fairly simple, but not sure quite yet what 'simple' is entailing.

But it's not as if I'm in a super big rush to get it published. While it would be preferable, sure, rushing will only make me frustrated at myself and that's never a good thing. Besides, with all the work done on it, I think I need a bit of a break to just relax and think before committing to anything just yet.

Heh, but enough of my droning – you all came here to read a chapter for Slave of Light, so that's exactly what you're getting! And much like before, I'm still planting some seeds here for future events. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Chapter 13

"Any word yet?"

"No, Yang."

"You sure?"

"Very sure."

"But, like, how sur-?"

Blake levelled a glare at the blonde brawler that finally got the girl to mime zipping up her mouth. But though Yang shut up at Blake's unspoken demand, the others at the table sure didn't.

Sheesh, absolutely no backup from any of them, not even Ruby. What a bad little sister!

It's been days since the whole shebang at that Tukson guy's bookstore and Yang was really starting to feel antsy now in all sorts of ways.

She knew for a damn fact the others felt the same way too.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed like she was the only one letting it show.

"You really gotta learn patience, sis!" Ruby chirped as she dug into her food, acting for all the world as if they were on some last-minute deadline when classes had already ended for the day.

Weiss huffed. "Indeed. Hoping for some action isn't going to make it happen that much faster. You do realize these types of things take time, right?"

"I know, I know," Yang grumbled. "I just thought maybe things would be happening sooner is all. I mean, just look at how much stuff had been going on recently."

"A fair point," Pyrrha conceded from where she sat across the table. "With all the Dust thefts that had occurred over the past few months and the incidents at both the docks and bookstore, the lack of related news now feels a little… disconcerting."

Yang motioned to Pyrrha. "See, guys? Even P-money feels the same way!"

"W-Well, I wouldn't go that far…" Pyrrha began.

"Ah come on, don't you wanna go out there and beat up some crooks for the greater good!" Yang whined, only to then pause. "Eh, no offense to your former buddies and all, Blake."

Blake sighed. "It's fine. I've come to terms with how the White Fang is now," she replied quietly, not wanting to be overheard by any other students. "But I do wish you wouldn't call them crooks – they may have their moments of typical criminal stupidity, but not that often…"

From directly across the table, Ren hummed quietly after drinking from that nasty-ass 'health shake' of his. "They do know how to hide, if nothing else…"

Yang grunted in annoyance and agreement at that.

Though they all had planned to spend this upcoming weekend looking for where the White Fang and Torchwick may be holing up, that didn't mean they weren't going to just not discuss it during their free time. With how freakin' large the search area was estimated to be, every last bit of reasonable conjecture they could, well, conject, then the smaller their search area could potentially become.

Her thrill-seeking ways aside, Yang really didn't like leaving known terrorists and criminals running loose when something could be done about them. Hence her antsy mood.

Nora, in the middle of pretty much inhaling her third plate of food, nodded vigorously in agreement upon noticing Yang's unspoken thoughts, made obvious by her facial expression.

Weiss sighed. "Look, the past few days, we've talked plenty about our upcoming 'plans.' I'll never refuse being too prepared, but as we've already noted back at the café, dwelling on this too much will not do us any good. How about a change of topics?"

Ruby looked positively delighted. "That's my partner for you! So, any of you excited for the Vytal Festival?!"

"Isn't that at least a few months away?" Blake asked aloud, not to any of them in particular.

"Give or take, yes," Pyrrha responded. "But yes, I am excited for it nonetheless, Ruby." She smiled at the silver eyed girl.

Said girl practically had stars in her eyes as she thought about something. Knowing her sister the way she does, Yang could guess at her thoughts.

And sure enough, she was proven right.

"Ah, just imagine the kinds of weapons the other students might show off! Maybe something like that fire sword I saw at the beginning of the year! Oh, or even a specialized Dust weapon!"

"Hmph, but before you get all excited for the Festival, Ruby," Weiss began, looking a little amused now. Amazing how much more relaxed the W of the team was now compared to the first few days of the semester, Yang noted. "There will be the dance – and I for one intend to make sure all of us attend it."

Ruby's enthusiasm died a quick and sudden death at the mere mention of the dance, which was only a month away now, give or take an extra week. "D-Do we really have to go…?"

"Much like the Vytal Festival itself, it is a way of showcasing the comradery between kingdoms," Ren chipped in, the normally quiet boy looked a bit bemused. "As it is, despite only a week or two having passed since then, most of the students from the other academies have already arrived so preparations for the dance should be underway rather soon."

"Heh, hard to think how quickly the time has gone by," Yang finally said as she leaned back in her seat and stretched a bit, having finished her food just now. "Whelp, since this is the topic we're now stuck on… any of you already thinking of anyone in particular to take to the dance?"

Yang made sure to make eye contact with each and every member of both her team and JNPR as she said that.

As always, expressions varied.

Blake looked like she just barely even remembered the dance existed.

Weiss' expression was neutral, but Yang, more perceptive than most might think her, could see a bit of genuine thought behind those ice blue eyes of the heiress.'

Ruby looked as if she'd rather be discussing anything else other than the dance. She'd always been a socially awkward wallflower and it looks as if her recent increase in decisiveness wasn't quite up to par for helping her out of this situation.

On JNPR's side of the table, the latter two members, Nora and Ren, had just about the expected reactions, Nora looking just about ready to break out in song and dance with Ren right there and then whilst the quiet boy looked resigned to whatever fun his longtime friend was already imagining.

As for their resident Invincible Girl, Pyrrha was blushing slightly and making furtive looks to their leader.

And speaking of JNPR's leader, Jaune was once more the stoic listener in their conversation, drinking the same stomach-churning 'health shake' that Ren usually had.

Noticing her gaze, he turned fully to her and stared, silently questioning.

"How about you, Jaune?" Yang asked with a little smile. "Already have someone in mind to sweep off their feet for the dance?"

He blinked twice in slow succession. "No, can't say I have," he replied after a slow second. He then placed an elbow on the table and rubbed his chin with his free hand as he appeared to fall deep in thought. "The dance… right… forgot about that."

Aaaaaannnnddd there he goes once again being his usual enigmatic self.

Man, Jaune sure was an interesting dude, Yang must admit. Not only was he a pretty cool and good-looking guy, he was clearly pretty damn strong considering what she heard through the grapevine of him having beaten Pyrrha in a spar some time ago, just prior to the docks incident. Huh, guess she couldn't call Pyrrha the Invincible Girl anymore, she realized.

That aside though, Jaune has also given some advice to Ruby and the others and Yang sure as hell didn't forget the unexpected pep talk he'd given them when Blake had run off on them. Not to mention too the way he'd apparently gone out and figured out the whole search area thing in the first place.

She wasn't trying to sing the guy's praises constantly or anything here like some fangirl, but holy hell was he an enigma, considering his accomplishments so far and all that jazz.

But for all those awesome traits, something was clearly up with him.

Every time they all got together – which was daily, really – to just hang out and talk, though he seemed to genuinely enjoy their company, he rarely contributed to the conversation unless he was spoken to first. Then there were the little things here and there that she'd noticed about him.

Like now, for instance.

The way he mumbled about the dance to himself, it was as if he was hearing about something that he hadn't heard of in a very long time.

…

…She's seen something similar before. With her dad, actually.

When Summer had died, her dad had become pretty despondent for a time, shell-shocked even, if that made any sense to say. And when he finally started to pull himself out of his funk, though not without some help from Qrow and herself and Ruby, dad had gone about rediscovering past hobbies and activities as if he hadn't indulged in them ever since he was a kid or something.

Jaune here was kind of, sort of similar in his reactions.

Thing is, he wasn't always like this.

Some stuff he went about as normal, but then mentioning the somewhat special shit like this got him all blinking in confusion and the like.

Now, what that could actually mean, Yang could only really guess at, but seeing this kind of reaction in someone her age… she wasn't gonna lie to herself here, it was pretty unnerving.

But she wasn't about to let that push her away.

Jaune had stepped up in some pretty big ways, having helped them all and especially Blake out over the past few weeks, with the entire dock incident and the events that had led up to it being the most obvious times.

The least she could do is try to pay him back for his help, even if she was damn sure he'd refuse if he knew her intentions. He was a big softie like that, considering all the other things he does for the other students and faculty.

That said… that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun along the way.

"Well, if you don't have anyone in mind, how about me?" Yang said to him, a teasing tone in her voice. "I can tell ya, I'll make it a night to remember for you."

"Yang?!" Ruby sounded positively scandalized. Ah, to be so innocent and impressionable. Never change, Rubes, never change.

Ah, and sure enough, everyone else there looked surprised by her words. Not that surprised, mind you, but enough to be taken aback by her apparent interest in Jaune.

But none more so than Pyrrha looked so utterly shocked, even nervous.

"Ah," Jaune began, looking sheepish. However, said sheepishness didn't seem to be due to her feminine charm, which she'd been demonstrating just now by leaning forward a bit to show off a little cleavage. "Thanks for the offer, but you could do far better than me. Besides… now that I think about it, setting up the dance must be pretty difficult, so I'll probably lend a hand instead."

Yang blinked. So did everyone else.

Do much better than him? Besides, he'll be busy helping setting the dance up and stuff?

Not to toot her own horn here or anything (well, not _too_ much), but a lot of guys back in Signal would've gladly taken her up on her little offer, seeing as she'd been regarded as one of the hottest girls back then, not that she'd been really trying to get such a reputation.

To be turned down so quickly was a real shocker to her here, but for such a reason?!

"O-Oh," she started dumbly, her mind not exactly able to come up with anything to immediately reply with. "You sure about that?"

Jaune took a few seconds to reply, seemingly out of hesitation, but when he did, he responded first with a firm nod. "I'm sure. Thank you though, Yang. Um… that is the right thing to say in this situation, right?"

Yang blinked again but then reluctantly waved it off. "Eh, it's fine, Jaune. But… are you sure? I mean, about the whole helping the dance getting set up and stuff?"

As she asked her question, she tried discreetly looking around at the others for assistance, but they too seemed a bit too surprised to be of much help.

She'd have thought Pyrrha at least, given her obvious growing interest in the blond teen, would've now taken this chance to make it known she was available and willing to accompany him to the dance as his date.

But instead, the redhead looked just as taken aback and unable to intervene.

Jaune's expression changed numerous times in the span of a split second, making it almost impossible to tell what he was really feeling.

But Yang, more perceptive than others would probably give her credit for, could've sworn she saw just a bit of genuine longing there.

Just what was Jaune's story?

"…Yeah, I'm sure," he said. "But if I do have some time, I'll try and hit the dance floor."

That last statement almost felt forced and now, feeling a bit annoyed, Yang was tempted to call him out on it.

Except she didn't.

With everything else currently going on, now wasn't really the time to be snooping around into the personal lives of others.

"Well, if you do, I expect some slick moves," she said instead, forcing a smile.

It was a smile that Jaune seemed to have some trouble returning.

Then, without another word spoken, they all returned to their meals.

* * *

As they finished up eating dinner and began their walk back to their dorms to start their homework, Jaune did his best to maintain a perfectly neutral expression and posture.

However, as strong willed as he is, this was something he had trouble doing and he could almost feel his friends' eyes on him, studying and judging him in silence.

Well, except Nora, she wasn't one for silence most times.

He knew that it was for his recent behavior too – his refusal of Yang's gracious offer as well as his now likely absence from the dance.

If anyone else had been in their places and lacked the still budding friendship between him and others, they likely would've simply written him off as being anti-social or something and moved on without issue.

But his friends weren't falling for that crap.

No, he could tell that they all had started to take a more vested interest in him for varying reasons… but it could probably be chalked up to his semblance still, not that his semblance was that powerful, at least not in that respect.

That said, his refusal of Yang hadn't quite been something of his own conscious doing. Nor had his statement of intending to help set up the dance and maintain it.

While he'd never say helping others was wrong, there were still limits. There were times where helping others out simply became too ridiculous a thing to do. There were times where one had to focus on and make themselves happy rather than focus on doing so for others.

This had been one of those times.

It was enough to fill him with shame, really. He'd promised his family that he'd at least try to live something akin to a normal teenaged life, something he'd been making some progress in doing, but now with everything else currently going on – Roman Torchwick, the White Fang and their unknown plans, all the Dust thefts and the recent attack on Tukson by two unknown assailants that clearly knew what they were doing yet didn't seem to be directly associated with the White Fang despite conveniently targeting a former member – he was finding it hard now to focus on that goal of his.

His compulsion, brought up by both his memories of what had happened to his mother that day along with the mental effects of his semblance, was now pretty much overriding whatever thoughts he'd been having of actually attending the dance and enjoying himself.

Ha, how pathetic. Despite being regarded as someone possessing a strong will, he sure sucked at resisting the hold his own semblance had on him.

He truly had wanted to take Yang up on her offer, even if it had possibly been just to tease him. He truly did want to go to that dance.

But instead, with his mind now so completely focused on literally everything else, it'd been easy for his semblance to take hold of him and steer him towards once again putting others before himself.

And this time, his friends really were getting suspicious of him. Such a thing would've been inevitable anyways given how he was around them all the time, but his own actions recently weren't helping his case.

By all rights, he should just come clean; it's not as if this secret of his was _that_ shameful or anything. But to do so would likely be to worry them and heroes were supposed to alleviate worries, not cause them.

Ah, but could he really be considered a hero? To those like Corrin and the other kids along with Isaac, his family, Patrice, Faustus and many others, he may certainly seem like a hero…

But to himself? No, he wasn't.

He was merely a slave. Nothing more.

Of course, that didn't mean he was content to be one forever.

He will find a way to shake hold of his semblance, learn to control it and not the other way around.

But until then…

Jaune sighed as he and his team reached their dorm first.

As he opened the door and they all shuffled inside, he came to the conclusion that it would be a long while before that particular goal of his would be achieved.

He understood very well that baby steps were all that could be achieved for some goals, but he prayed that said baby steps wouldn't come at too heavy a price.

* * *

"I didn't think you'd come down here, Ozpin," Glynda spoke as she entered.

"If that were the case, this likely wouldn't have been the first place you'd come looking for me," Ozpin replied with a bit of a smile.

But the smile didn't last long at all before being replaced once more by a solemn expression.

It was hard not to be so down, considering where he was at.

The 'at' in particular being a vast secret chamber located well below the ground level of his tower, accessible only by imputing a special code into the elevator.

Here lied one of the most important people in the world to him – dear Amber, the current Fall Maiden, who was lying comatose inside a special pod of sorts.

Various machinery and equipment was set up all around this little corner of the chamber, each one meant to support the pod's own functions as well as to obviously monitor Amber's vitals.

Vitals that haven't changed all that much ever since she was first put in this place.

"…Has there been any kind of change?" Glynda asked as she neared.

"No," he responded quietly.

"I see."

Glynda didn't ask him why he'd suddenly decided to pay a visit to Amber here. She didn't have to, for Ozpin himself hadn't quite been sure why he'd done so too.

If he had to try and explain himself, however, well, he'd simply been in a mood of sorts. With everything on his plate and everything that seems to be continually added to it, the stress was just endlessly piling up.

Seriously, if his hair wasn't already gray to start with, then the stress would've turned his hair such a long time ago.

"Is there a pressing matter?" he asked, turning to his deputy headmistress slightly.

"James has been attempting to make contact with you the past half hour. News about what happened at the docks has finally made its way to him," Glynda explained.

"Ah, I suppose the White Fang would garner his attention," Ozpin quipped listlessly. Slowly turning away from Amber, he gave Glynda his full attention. "I take it he wants to take preemptive action of a sort?"

The blonde nodded. "Of course; you know how he is. Though the Vytal Festival is still a ways away, he's been hinting at arriving a little early to beef up security himself and I believe that'd mean he'd be bringing more men than necessary as usual."

Ozpin grumbled. James Ironwood was one of his most trusted allies alongside Glynda, Qrow and Leonardo. While there were still plenty of secrets he's still keeping from them, they were still among the very few that his current self could trust with the general truth of this world.

He'd trust them with his life. That said… James in particular could be rather… hotheaded. One would expect a general to be more in control of himself, but James liked to break the mold, it seemed.

"I take it he hasn't been taking no for an answer?"

"Despite me speaking in your stead, he refused to be swayed. He'll be prepping for departure from Atlas to here within a week or two," Glynda responded before sighing. "I swear, that man is just so…!"

Ozpin allowed himself a slight chuckle. "You never have cut him any slack."

"He's yet to give me reason to do so," was Glynda's flat response.

He chuckled again. But he could see why Glynda would be so frustrated.

James was the type of man to bring in the big guns, even when it may not yet to be warranted. The 'big guns' in this case likely being a small fleet. If so, then the public eye certainly wouldn't let that go unnoticed and it would only cause them to worry.

After all, if the general of Atlas was coming to Vale with such a large fleet, just what sort of enemy were they preparing to combat?

If such firepower was all that was needed to end this secret war that he'd been waging for so long, then things would be different. Alas, that wasn't the case.

Unfortunately, he doubted calling up James now would do much good. Once the Atlas general decided on a course of action, steering him away from it was supremely difficult.

Ozpin sighed. Looks like he was going to have to roll with it. Oh well, it's not as if this was the first time he's ever been blindsided by anything.

But that aside…

"Is there anything else, Glynda?"

"I've been digging into Ms. Belladonna's past as you once requested," she began, now folding her arms across her chest. "As you'd thought, this Tukson fellow you mentioned just a few days ago appeared to have once been a member of the White Fang too."

"I see." Following his visit to the police station a few days back, he'd decided it best to instead look into things instead of planning to ask the students about it later. Time was quickly becoming a luxury he couldn't quite afford, after all.

"So, Tukson was once a member, hmm? Do you have a file on him already?" Ozpin now asked.

Glynda unfolded her arms and pulled out her scroll. She handed it to him silently.

Accepting it, he proceeded to look through the files Glynda had either found or formed through the information gathered on such short notice. The benefits of a wide-spread information network truly were not to be underestimated.

It was not, however, all-encompassing; there were more than a few blanks here and there in the information, but Ozpin had what he needed.

From the looks of it, Tukson had once been an equipment and comms worker. Originally from Menagerie just like most of the main members of the White Fang and… well, that was really it. Just because this information had been obtained so swiftly didn't mean it was too extensive.

But it served its purpose.

"From the looks of it," Glynda started as he reread the files. "It would seem this man is a rogue member, one that the White Fang wants dead or otherwise captured."

"Mm. Normally, this could be said of most organizations when members suddenly go rogue but wanting him dead… they wouldn't do that unless there was a reason of some sort." Ozpin stated this with more than a little certainty. Once again, his lifetimes of experience were speaking here through him. "Given what his former role in their organization was, he must have valuable intel on them… or has ways of monitoring their current movements."

"In which case, he'd be quite a target for them," Glynda added. "One that they never tracked seriously if only because they had no lead on where he ended up. But now that he's been attacked here in Vale, where the White Fang have been recently active…"

"Then it's only a matter of time before the White Fang launch an attack against him," Ozpin finished.

Oh dear, it would seem his thoughts about the situation being more serious than it was said to be were coming true.

However, more than that…

"Given his affiliation with Ms. Belladonna and their apparent friendship, there's a chance he may be helping her and her friends with tracking the White Fang," he then said, now growing tense. Once again, he spoke from experience and insight.

When he first met the young Blake Belladonna and spoke with her, he'd made it clear to her that he knew of her criminal past and desire to redeem herself. An admirable goal but one with much hardship. He knew she'd run from the White Fang and had intended to keep on running if need be, but in light of the docks incident and the events that had apparently led up to it, it seems now that the B of team RWBY now had every intention of stopping the White Fang forces here in Vale herself if need be. And taking into account her teammates and team JNPR, which was close with team RWBY and also had the enigmatic but crazy helpful Jaune Arc as their leader, the headmaster had no doubt that they'd get willingly wrapped up in whatever crusade Ms. Belladonna wanted to go on.

And it was just a bit too convenient that she'd recently gone to see her friend Tukson, whose expertise likely meant he could help track the White Fang's movements and determine where they may strike next.

That meant that there was now a likely chance teams RWBY and JNPR may attempt to battle the criminal forces gathered here in Vale some time in the not-so-distant future.

This was a conclusion Glynda appeared to come to just now as well, the deputy headmistress looking more worried than she'd ever willingly show around her students.

"Should we have them watched and detained when needed?" she asked.

By all rights, he should. This may be an academy meant to train the next batch of huntsmen and huntresses, but for all their considerable talent and skill, they were still first-years. They could only do so much. They couldn't just let both teams run around, doing what they wanted.

Truly, the right thing to do would be to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't do anything too foolhardy.

Except… except he couldn't bring himself to fault them. How could he, considering his own actions throughout his recurring lives?

In his war against the Queen and her own forces, he's had to do many things he never would've done otherwise, and all for the sake of gaining even the slightest advantage.

And call him crazy, but somehow he felt that his ancient foe had her hands in this current mess somehow. However indirectly it may be, he knew the Queen – Salem – had some level of involvement in this. The changes in the White Fang's modus operandi in addition to Roman Torchwick's own change of actions were far too sudden now in hindsight. There was just now way they'd be stockpiling Dust for legitimate reason.

Not only that, but there's no way the White Fang, xenophobic towards humans, would willingly work with the likes of Torchwick for any reason… unless they were being forced to. And Roman Torchwick himself was too much of a wildcard amongst Vale's criminal element to ever bend his knee to anyone else unless they had something on him or were otherwise capable of forcing him to submit.

Ozpin doubted anyone high up within the White Fang would suddenly develop such an oddly progressive mindset, if it could be considered as such. That meant someone else, a third party, was involved here, one who has gone to considerable lengths to remain undetected.

Given his own connections and resources, that Ozpin has been unaware of such a force was an indicator that whoever this third party was, they were likely very wary of him and therefore was doing their best to make sure not to attract his watchful eyes.

That meant they had some idea, however slight, of his information network and intelligence gathering methods. This in turn also meant they at least had an idea of who his closer allies may be.

In which case, making a move himself or having the likes of Glynda and the others make a move would be something this third party may either be outright expecting or at the very least be mindful of.

"…Ozpin," Glynda said, now sounding a little angry.

Ozpin allowed himself a small and bitter smile. "I see you've become very adept at anticipating my trains of thought."

Glynda ignored his comment. "You intend to let them go through with this?!"

"I'm afraid to say that may be the case. With the White Fang and Torchwick working together so suddenly and for the purpose of stealing Dust so far, there's no way whatever plan they're following could've been formulated by either side. There must be a third party involved in all this, directing them all. That we're only now entertaining such a thought means this third party has put considerable effort into remaining undetected thus far. Any move we've made thus far could've been monitored somehow by this unknown force… and I can't help but feel _her_ hand is involved somehow."

That got Glynda to wince. "I understand your point, but even so… you'd use teams RWBY and JNPR as bait? Whatever schemes you may now be thinking of to use them in, they're not ready!"

Ozpin let out a heavy sigh. "None of us were ready for any of the struggles we've been through. No one ever is, despite how much they may have prepared. This may be the first time we've used teams so… so new like this, but unless we can figure out a better way to potentially flush this third party out into the open, letting teams RWBY and JNPR do what they're doubtlessly intending to do is our only option right now. We simply can't afford to waste any more time thinking through things – we need to start being more active now."

Glynda actually gritted her teeth; such was her anger. But the fact she didn't yell and try to refute his words showed she understood their situation.

With Amber in her current condition and the other Maidens unaccounted for, they were far from being in a good strategical spot against Salem. The additional fact that he could still sense the magic within Amber being only half as strong as it was long ago meant that they also had to worry about a… well, a half-Maiden running around out there too, no doubt under their foe's employ since she's the only one who'd ever have a reason to know about and target the Maidens in the first place.

Hmm, come to think of it, could the ones who attacked Amber back then be this third party he's been thinking of? It was certainly a very real possibility, but until he had something substantial to back up this new hypothesis, acting on it would be extremely unwise. With so many threats running around Remnant, getting any of them mixed up could have drastic and terrifying consequences.

"I know you have the best of intentions, Ozpin," Glynda said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "But this time around, I truly hope what you know you're doing – I'm not sure how much longer I can stomach how many more lives we may have to sacrifice for the greater good."

She then pivoted and promptly took her leave.

Ozpin watched her go with sad and tired eyes.

It wasn't until Glynda left his sight for good that he turned to look back at Amber, still comatose within the pod. He reached out with a hand to gently touch the pod, praying for the young woman's recovery.

"I feel the same, Glynda," he whispered.

He's made more mistakes than anyone else in the world. He's long since grown tired and angry over how many people have had to pay in his stead. And for all his faith in humanity and its inherent goodness, he more than anything simply wanted to rest, something he'll never be able to do so long as this war kept on going.

Not for the first time, he silently asked the gods if this was how things really had to be, if it was worth all the effort he and Salem had spent waging conflict after conflict against each other.

And like always, he received no answer.

* * *

Roman let out a haggard sigh. Today had been yet another long day. Not to say that it had been a particularly frustrating day per say, but it sure had felt long.

Ah, the consequences of being relied on to do so much shit. The price of being competent.

Not only did he have to do his usual Dust thefts, but he now also had to get some people to watch those Beacon brats over the weekend too. Then, there was the other thing he'd been recently 'asked' to do – hold a rally to recruit more idiots to the White Fang.

Sheesh, it was bad enough he was working with the animals as it is, but now he had to go and do their jobs too? He was practically a member in all but name!

But hey, he understood – they'd been taking some heavy hits over the past few years. As many misanthropes as there are out there among Faunuskind, not every single one of them was joining up with a terrorist organization to vent their pathetic feelings. And with all the battles they'd been waging through the kingdoms for their oh so precious equality, the White Fang was slowly but now noticeably losing its precious manpower. So, they needed to do some recruitment.

Besides that, if he and his current crew were going to carry out their parts of Cinder's supposedly master plan, then they were going to need more bodies anyways, so this was a two-birds-with-one-stone thing.

Now normally, he'd doubt simply holding a rally in some nondescript part of Vale and spreading the word through the more rundown Faunus neighborhoods would stir up much genuine interest, but thanks to Cinder's connections, he was able to get his hands on something good that would not doubt entice a good handful to join up.

"Now it's just another matter of transporting it safely and quietly to wherever the hell they want this rally held…" Roman mumbled to himself as he headed back to his makeshift room.

He sighed again. That was yet another thing that would be up to him to personally organize. Seriously, sometimes he wondered just how the hell the White Fang had survived this long if the rest of the bunch were as incompetent as the ones he has around him.

Yeah, suffice to say his mood wasn't all that good. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was far from good…

But just as he'd been about to open the door to his quarters, he paused for a split second, looking only marginally surprised before smiling a little.

"Well, well," he began as he finally opened the door and strolled inside. "I'd say what a surprise, but not really. How are things out there, Neo?"

Inside his room and seated atop his bed was none other than his longtime partner, the short yet oh so dangerous neopolitan hair-colored, well, Neopolitan. Neo, for short.

The silent and colorful young woman eyed him and smirked in that confident way he was always used to.

However, the smirk vanished once she really got a look at him. She gestured immediately to his leg.

Roman grunted. "Yeah, I know I'm not a pretty sight. It's a bit of a long story though so I'll tell you later. Anyways, my question…?"

As he walked over to a nearby chair and plopped down on it, he watched as Neo gesticulated, having long since learned how she 'spoke.'

He sat there silently and nodded every now and then as Neo spent the next fifteen minutes explaining how their other endeavors were going.

"I see. That's good. At least we have a backup plan in case things go south with Cinder," he said as he leaned back and carefully stretched his bad leg now. It was much better than it was several days ago, but he was obviously still hurting. Of course, his knee will never really be better again, but the less pain and cramping, the better.

Neo tilted her head and frowned, quirking an eyebrow.

It was all she needed to do to ask her question.

"Nah, Cinder doesn't know you're back. I made sure to lie about how long it'd take for you to come back here – said you were busy and all that." When he'd told Cinder how using Neo for any near future part of their plans was a no go, that had been a lie – not long after the docks incident, he'd summoned Neo back as fast as she could make it back.

It had taken a while, but nowhere near as long as he'd suggested to Cinder and the others. Neo was, after all, to be his trump card. Telling anyone else of her presence back in Vale now would obviously be giving away the surprise.

Neo motioned to his leg again and didn't look too keen on waiting until later to hear his little tale. So, with but a small grimace, he launched into a retelling of recent events, from the stupid preparations he'd made for the docks operation to how it all went wrong and even about the recent assassination that Cinder's two spunky sidekicks screwed up.

Neo's eyes went wide as he told his tale and she even stopped twirling her closed umbrella too.

"Yeah, even I feel it's all pretty surreal… and I freakin' lived through all this," Roman mumbled. It still felt ridiculous to him how wrong things had suddenly gone at the docks. And as much as he may like to rag on Mercury and Emerald for their own recent screw up, he knew it was still a speedbump in their plans.

Cinder may say she's got it all under control and that she'll figure things out, but he didn't like continuing on while half-cocked. He was no stranger to adaptation and improv, but it helped immensely when he still had something to work with in general.

But in this situation? He couldn't help but feel like they were flying blind and it wasn't a feeling that he liked very much.

It was something Neo agreed with too, what with the young woman now silently grimacing, kicking her legs back and forth like a bratty child that didn't hear what they'd wanted to hear.

She made a motion with her umbrella and pointed around.

"What now, you ask? Well, I'm afraid we don't have much choice but to continue on like this for now – until those other matters you've been dealing with for me are settled, we don't really have enough immediately available funds and resources to go running, at least not for long. I get the feeling if we took off right here and now, Cinder would track us down in short order somehow… and no offense, Neo, as tough as you are, I'm not sure you could beat her, not when she can toss flames literally everywhere."

Neo pouted at her combat ability being doubted, but this was merely an act; she knew as well as he did that while she may be an excellent combatant, her abilities were a bad matchup against Cinder, whose mysterious flame abilities, clearly not the work of Dust or an average semblance, could effortlessly turn the tides. Plus, Cinder also had the backing of Mercury and Emerald and who knows who else. The fact the woman had been able to get Adam Taurus of all people and most of those under his command to work for her was another thing to balk at.

"But," Roman began. "I think I got an idea of sorts. A really dangerous one though. It's kind of why I called you back, actually."

Neo perked up and now eagerly gestured for him to continue.

"That Jaune punk that left me in this state… call it gut instinct, but I get the feeling he's stronger than he's let on, scary as that sounds. And goddamn, is he a stubborn freak of nature. But he can be useful – namely, in taking out Cinder. Of course, in order to do that, we got to lead him towards her and do so before she even thinks of taking off to stay hidden or whatever." Roman shifted in his chair, leaning forward now. "This weekend, some of those dumbass White Fang grunts will be tailing him and that damned kittycat and their friends, see where they go and all that jazz. I want to follow them too but stay hidden from both groups. Then, try and lead them closer to where Cinder's current little base is set up at."

Neo's eyes went wide for a second before a predatory grin appeared on her face.

Roman shared this grin. "Yeah, that's right. Like I said, it could be dangerous, but if we can lead that freak to Cinder and let them duke it out, he might just be able to take her out right then and there. Or she'll kill him first. Or maybe even they'll both off each other. However it plays out, that's one less major thorn in our side and we'll get some leeway. Personally, I'm hoping if this works that Cinder is the one to die so we can just go back to doing our usual thing, but if the blond punk goes down, we'll have a lot more breathing room with our current operations and Cinder will hopefully back off just enough for us to escape at the first chance anyways. So, what do you say, Neo? Feeling up to it?"

Neo nodded eagerly. She then leaned forward a bit and assumed a questioning expression.

Roman, as always, understood her intentions. "As long as you can somehow lead him to Cinder, I don't care if you have fun with him or his friends. Just don't get too cocky – like I said, he's as much a monster as Cinder. Hell, probably more in some respects."

Neo's grin returned. It would soon be time for her to play a little.

* * *

 **Yep, so Neo is now officially introduced! And boy, what a gambit pileup this is – Cinder with wanting Jaune and Blake and the others surveilled, the Beacon group intending to hunt down the White Fang's current base of operations, Ozpin willing to let them do just this whilst watching as to sweep in and clean them up, and now Roman and Neo intending to make them all collide for the express purpose of potentially taking them all down. Yeesh, even I'm feeling intimidated by all that, ha ha.**

 **Anyways, while some of you may immediately deem Ozpin's actions or inactions to be callous or even reprehensible, I just want to say that this isn't necessarily the case. As I had hoped I'd demonstrated during his section of this chapter, it's not something he really wants to do, but feels he must for the greater good. That's not the most appealing thing to hear, I know, but it's sadly a fact of life both within and without fiction.**

 **Frankly, I feel Ozpin got seriously shafted in canon – yes, a lot of things he's done as Ozpin and during his many past lives really could've been handled differently, but you do have to keep in mind he was dealt a very shitty hand and it's not like he could perfectly foresee every consequence.**

 **Personally, the way all of RWBY and JNR ragged on him for keeping so much hidden from them seriously infuriated me. Yes, they have a right to be angry given the deaths of Penny and Pyrrha and many others, not to mention getting unwittingly drafted into an ancient war against a powerful magic-wielding immortal, but as they clearly saw thanks to Jinn, it was either resist Salem or let her rule humanity as their new god and it was clear she wasn't going to be any better than the God Brothers. Plus, even if Salem is somehow taken out of the picture, the Grimm will still keep spawning as long as the pools of destruction remain and they'll keep killing humans, just as they've always done even before Salem became their ruler, they just won't have any specific tasks or whatever.**

 **Again, not saying Ozpin is faultless, but his treatment in volume 6 simply didn't sit well with me. I intend to correct that by painting him as the flawed but ultimately good and tragic character he was meant to be seen and handled as, by both the fandom and the characters within the fic.**

 **But of course, that will take time to do, ha ha. Hope you can bear with me until then.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	14. Chapter 14

Finally published my second novel, everyone!

Well, not completely – the site I use to publish sends it out to a variety of other sites for it to be published there and as of now, there's still a few sites left for my novel to be published on.

But! That's not the point. The point is, it's finally up and available to read! It's called **Infinite Genesis Book 1: Beginnings**! You can currently find it on sites such as Kobo, Scribd, Playster, Baker & Taylor, Apple and Barnes and Noble! And hopefully soon, it'll be available for purchase on Amazon, Overdrive and even other sites like Bibliotheca, Tolino, and Overdrive! Only $0.99 too on all sites!

Forgive my shameless self-advertisement here, but it's just so damn great to finally have it done, you know? Ha ha. That said, I will also be posting a universal link to it on my profile page too, around the time this chapter is up or some time before even that.

Heh, but my enthusiasm for my novel aside now, about this fic – I will be holding off on beginning the next part of the Infinite Genesis series for about a month or two in order to plan out as much of the plot as is possible. Already had some stuff in in mind ever since I even first started the first book, but it'll now be time for me to flesh that stuff out before committing to it.

In the meantime, that means I'll be focusing on writing for this fic which in turn also means chapters may be a bit more plentiful. Or at least that is the general plan, but alas the next month or two for me will also be a busy one in general – a lot of personal obligations and stuff – so how many chapters I will be able to get out by then, I can't quite say just yet.

But hopefully by the time of the next chapter for this fic, I'll have a better idea of how my writing plans will turn out.

Just thought I should let you guys know!

Now onto the chapter!

P.S. Also saw Godzilla recently and all I have to say is that it's literally every Godzilla fans' dreams come true!

Chapter 14

The weekend rolls around in what felt like the blink of an eye. It was almost enough to make Jaune himself shake his head in disbelief.

Alas, he avoided pondering about the subjective flow of time and all – he had much more important matters to attend to.

Such as now, for example.

"All ready?" he asked his team.

Just as they'd discussed several days ago, his team along with RWBY were to head out into Vale and try locating the White Fang's base. To this end, they'd all gotten up a little earlier than they normally did on the weekends and it was just barely nine in the morning by the time they'd all had gotten dressed.

Jaune, ever the eager one, had been the first to prepare, thanks in part to not needing to ever do much to change and whatnot. His friends took longer due to their longer hair and somewhat more intricate clothes, not that he'd ever say that to them. Pyrrha in particular took the longest due to the length of her hair and the various parts of her usual outfit needing to be put on piece by piece.

Thankfully, they were all ready in time and his friends silently nodded in response to his question.

Smiling ever so lightly, he led them out of their dorm and locked up, doing so just in the nick of time for team RWBY just exited their dorm too.

"Nice timing, eh?" Ruby remarked as she smiled up at him.

His smile grew just a bit. "Yeah."

They exchanged some simple morning greetings immediately thereafter and quickly got organized – a hallway wasn't exactly a spot meant for eight people to gather together in, after all.

So, with little chatter being made, they all headed first to have a quick breakfast at the cafeteria before then going on to gather their weapons just in case.

Well, his team and the others did – Jaune always had his two swords handy. He went ahead towards the bullhead docks and waited patiently for the others to get their weapons, something that they did quickly.

The eight of them then boarded the bullhead and made their way into Vale, little chatter being made between them, much to Jaune's surprise. They were all normally so very talkative, but he supposed after waiting this long to finally do something about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick that they were feeling a bit too tense to act like they normally did. In which case, their relative silence was understandable.

Still, there was a part of him that found the quiet atmosphere between them all rather sad.

Not long afterwards, the bullhead arrived and they disembarked.

Almost immediately, Jaune took note of other people's stares. When it came to himself, he wasn't so keen on noticing most people's eyes on him, but when those eyes were gazing at his friends, he was naturally quite fast to notice this.

He pondered silently if it was because of them all obviously being armed, but then reconsidered – with the exception of himself, Pyrrha, Nora, and Blake, the others' weapons could be put in a more compact form that could then be hidden somewhat, such as Ruby's scythe in its current form hidden by her cloak. He then supposed it was because of how serious they all must look to the relatively few people milling about this early morning.

No matter, they obviously didn't mean the civilians any harm so there shouldn't be any issues.

Moreover, he was letting himself get a bit too distracted here. That wouldn't do. Ever since that brief chat with the others about the dance a few days ago, his thoughts have been wandering more and more. Thankfully, not enough to impact his performance in combat, but when it came to day-to-day life, he would belatedly realize how absentminded he was being.

That he'd been dazing off like this was worrying, but Jaune wasn't really sure on what to do.

Until such a time he figures out what to do, all he can do is what he's always done up until now – press on.

"Alrighty, let's see," Ruby eventually said as they kept walking, passing by shops that were just barely opening now. She pulled out her scroll and fiddled with it a bit before pulling up a map of Vale. Her teammates all glanced at it as they kept on walking. "So, in the end, we can probably ignore the buildings on the outermost parts of this search area, right?"

Over the past few days, they all had continued to discuss how to go about the search despite their attempts not to do so and they'd come up with more theories and speculation on how to do so.

Together, they'd been able to rule out certain spots by virtue of logic, such as some buildings being far too small for any crew of people to make a proper base out of or being too rundown to even consider being made into a home away from home.

This helped narrow the search area a bit, but also resulted in what could be considered 'splotches' in what had otherwise previously been a perfect circle.

To this end, they further had to do some digging into the past of Vale and find older maps. Weiss, ever the studious one, had been most helpful with this task and she found lists of businesses that had once thrived in Vale's older sections before closing down, taking note of those that had occupied the larger structures while the now closed businesses that had once been run in the much smaller buildings were crossed off the list she'd made.

Combined with his own knowledge of the general area and the fact people like Isaac and the others there had had no trouble telling him all about the older districts of Vale during his stay at their motel, there hadn't been any sounds that could be mistaken for construction, so that also ruled out the possibility that the White Fang had added onto the buildings there for their own use.

Plus, Blake had told them in no uncertain terms that the White Fang didn't do construction of any kind unless it was absolutely, 100% necessary and even then it was really only in the cases of accommodating the much more important members of the organization, not some grunts…. Her words, not his.

To make a long story short, they'd trimmed the search area down a fair bit more than they'd expected, but there was still more to be done.

"That's right," Jaune said in response to Ruby's question as he and his team also gathered around. "Most of those buildings look large on the outside, but inside is remarkably cramped due to bad floor planning. Whatever operation Roman and the White Fang are running has too many people involved to set up whatever equipment they have in there, to say nothing of housing for both them and basic necessities."

"But couldn't they be spread out throughout the area?" Pyrrha suddenly brought up. "Perhaps they know occupying larger buildings may possibly be too obvious a thing, so they decided to occupy a number of the smaller buildings instead?"

It was Weiss who answered that question, once again demonstrating her newfound expertise in the matter of Vale's abandoned districts. "It's possible, but extremely unlikely; many of the buildings were made far too close for another, to say nothing of how many small side streets and dead ends there are. If they ever got raided and had to pack up what they could to attempt escaping, it would be impossible to move quickly so only a handful of people could even squeeze into those alleyways at any one time. The only way they'd be able to clear out a large enough path for all of them to escape would be if they were willing to outright level entire buildings and city blocks to do so, but of course that would run the risk of catching themselves in the blasts too."

Pyrrha nodded in acceptance and took a step back.

"I guess we'll just have to search all of the really big buildings then… but damn, that's still a lot…" Yang mumbled.

"It's all we can do for now unless Tukson conveniently finds something out for us," Blake replied. "But we'll be at this for today and tomorrow anyways so we should find something if we try hard enough."

"Aw, I hope we find them soon though," Nora said with a slight whine to her voice. "I gotta get me some action!"

"Slow and steady wins the race, Nora," Ren drawled out.

Jaune ignored everyone's little quips as he continued to eyeball the map and then nodded to himself. "Then in that case, let's divide the entire search area into two sections – we'll handle the west and southern portions of it while you can have the east and the north."

Of the two teams, team RWBY was the more mobile one – both Ruby and Weiss have their semblances, Blake was plenty fast on her feet herself and could use her ribbons to swing from building top to building top and Yang has demonstrated an impressive proficiency with blasting herself through the air a fair distance with Ember Celica.

They in comparison weren't quite so equipped to cover ground so quickly. He and Nora in particular were the main heavy hitters of JNPR and the problem with that is that their attacks could run the all too real risk of collapsing the buildings on themselves and the others, so heading into the more crowded areas would be a poor idea.

Granted, Jaune could cover ground more than quickly enough himself, but unless he was willing to charge directly through every building in the way, it was a no-go. Plus, that would only alert their enemies to their presence.

This was something that Ruby understood as well, the first part that is, and she nodded. "Sounds good! now let's go! We're burning dayli-!"

She tried to take the lead, but Weiss grabbed her hood before she could fully take off, nearly causing her to simultaneously tear the hood and choke. "Wait a moment, you dolt," she said dryly. "Jaune has been there before, so he should be the one to show us the way there. Presumably, he'd have already found out firsthand any shortcuts." She looked to him as she said that.

He nodded. "I have."

"Then lead us there."

He nodded again and began to do just that, everyone following in silence – save for Ruby, who whined adorably over Weiss stealing her thunder before it even got going.

Such a sight brought him just a slight bit of amusement. Sadly, it didn't last long – his thoughts were still a little frayed and now that he was trying to focus on their current goal, whatever unneeded emotions he was having now began to slip away.

It was time to get down to business, something his happiness was not needed for.

* * *

Pyrrha was one of two people that was following her partner/leader the closest. The other was Ruby, who was trying to do her part in leading them all to where they had to go despite Weiss' earlier words.

The redhead had to admire the younger girl's spunk, but only marginally.

For she was once again all too focused on her team leader.

The past few days, he's been looking noticeably perturbed by something, but he hasn't bothered opening up to anyone about it and despite having wanted to ask him herself, she's found herself unable to muster the courage.

She couldn't help but berate herself. How could she have no problem taking on anyone in a fight but then struggle to even ask one of her few friends about how he's doing?

Some treacherous part of her whispered that it was because of how she began to view Jaune as being more and more unusual by the day, but she did her best to try and ignore this part of her mind. This part of her was essentially implying that because Jaune was increasingly different from most people that she was hesitant to interact with him and that was a horrible thing to ever think.

After all, was it not because of the Great War that diversity became something to celebrate and enjoy? How could she practically spit on the efforts of the people who fought for such an ideal back then if she couldn't practice what was preached?

Ah, but then, this really was nothing more than an excuse, really. When it really came down to it, Jaune's mentality of others before himself was simply too extreme a thing for her and likely most others to bear. Don't get her wrong, it was admirable but only to an extent. At some point, one must learn how to enjoy themselves, something Jaune didn't seem to have an easy time doing.

It was because of this mentality that when they all had spoken briefly of the dance that he seemed all too willing to just shove aside whatever chances of joy he could've had at such an event to just help set the dance up and patrol.

What had rubbed her so wrong about that time, however, was that although he'd certainly been quick to explain to them all what he'd intended to do that night of the dance, he hadn't looked too happy. Yet even with his clear unhappiness, his responses had been practically automatic.

It had been as if something had been literally forcing him to say otherwise.

"Ah, Jaune!"

A voice suddenly calling out to her partner snapped Pyrrha out of her thoughts.

It would seem that in the time she'd spent following Jaune alongside the others that they've covered a considerable distance – no longer were they in the nicer parts of Vale, but rather they were now entering the older and more rundowns areas of it.

Pyrrha was considered a nice and tolerant girl by many and at the risk of sounding arrogant or too self-assured, she believed this to be true about herself. But even then, seeing how old and even decrepit some of the surrounding buildings looked were enough to make her almost visibly wince.

It just hurt to look at, really.

She didn't seem to be the only one holding back a wince either – just about everyone else looked surprised and a little horrified almost by how quickly Vale shifted from colorful and prosperous to dull and rundown.

The only exception was Jaune himself, of course.

Instead, he merely turned in the direction of the voice and smiled softly. Pyrrha and the others followed his gaze in time to see an older looking woman, a little on the thin side and rather pale too, beaming at her blond friend.

"Patrice," Jaune spoke. "How have you been?"

The older woman's smile seemed to grow even more somehow as she fixed her shoulder length- dark blue hair. "I've been well enough. But you can imagine how it is – at my age, even working a flower shop can be physically demanding."

Jaune nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I've met my share of people who have such troubles. But other than that, how are things? Any more trouble from those gangs?"

She shook her head. "No no, not at all. I'm sure that young Corrin already told you about all that."

Corrin? Pyrrha mouthed the name silently to the others, who could only discreetly shake their heads, not recognizing the name either.

"Ah, I see he's spread word about my last visit… sorry I couldn't visit you or anyone else at the time." Jaune sounded genuinely apologetic.

But the woman, Patrice, waved him off. "Now now, no need to apologize! We all know firsthand how you're like." She laughed a bit. She then looked to the rest of them. "Ah… out with your friends? That's good. Gods knows that you definitely need to loosen up a bit."

"Ah, actually we were on our way to do something rather important…" Jaune began.

"Oh? Heh, I see. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised," Patrice replied, her smile growing small now. "You're always working hard, eh? That's nice and all, but you really do need to learn how to relax."

"I've… I've been trying…"

"Hmm, well maybe paying a visit to Isaac will help with that." Patrice sounded rather playful now. "I'm sure his daughter still misses you, you know."

"Ah…" …Was Jaune actually looking embarrassed? "Perhaps another time."

Patrice laughed at his bashfulness. "Ah, for how decisive you are with everything else, girls still leave you stumped, huh? With all those pretty girls around you right now, I'd thought otherwise." She laughed again before opening the door nearby, which turned out to be the front to the flower shop she'd just mentioned, Pyrrha mentally noted. "Well, whatever you're up to now, I wish you the best. Just be safe, okay? We'd all be sad if something happened to you."

Jaune now nodded firmly. "I will."

Waving goodbye to him and to them, Patrice went inside, presumably to prepare for opening the shop up for today.

They all stared silently at Jaune who in turn silently stared at the front of the shop for a moment before he began to walk again.

"So, she seemed friendly… even if she didn't actually talk to us… or vice versa," Ruby commented a moment later.

"That she did," Weiss acknowledged. She then grimaced. "Even so, she seemed…" She trailed off.

But they all knew what the heiress had been about to say.

The older woman just now hadn't exactly looked all too well, with shabby clothes and a physique so slim that it couldn't be too healthy.

And Jaune seemed to pick up on what they were all thinking. "Patrice… she suffered from severe illness years ago," he began. "It wasn't until recently that she's gotten better and able to run her flower shop by herself."

"Recently?" Pyrrha discovered herself asking.

Jaune replied slowly. "…As you can all tell, this area isn't in the best of shapes. The economy included. Just about everyone here is near or at the poverty line, so affording good medical care isn't exactly within their means. It didn't help either that gangs and other criminal elements liked to make their home here to cause chaos."

"And you know her and all this… how?" Blake asked him, the Faunus teen looking particularly stricken by what had just happened.

"In the days leading up to Beacon's semester, I stayed at a hotel in this area – owned by Isaac, whom she mentioned," he answered. "During my time here, I did my best to help out. I kicked out the gangs and helped fix up the motel and other shops here. Patrice in particular had needed help since she was actually weaker then than she is now."

"Wait, what?!" Yang exclaimed. "You're telling me today was one of her better days or something?!"

Jaune nodded solemnly. "She may no longer be ill, but she still has times of considerable weakness. Before I came along, a lot of the other shop owners here had to help her out lest she collapse."

And judging by his expression, Pyrrha could tell Jaune wanted to head right back and aid her before she ran the risk of collapsing right now. He looked truly pained to not be doing so.

"If she's in such a state, why continue to push herself like this?" Ren now questioned.

"That shop is actually her husband's… but he passed away a long time ago, not long before she fell ill. And their home above the flower shop was vandalized too, with most of their possessions taken or ruined. The shop is really the only thing she has left to remember him by," Jaune explained solemnly.

That shut them all up for a long minute or two.

It was enough to make Pyrrha's heart constrict. If this kind of thing was something Jaune was used to, then it was now no wonder why he may be the way he is – hearing all this was enough to make the redhead feel so bad about all her personal woes.

"Does… does everyone else live like this here?" Amazingly, it was Nora who was asking this, the girl nowhere near as bombastic as she normally is.

"…More or less, yeah," Jaune said with a sigh. "But don't pity them – despite how it all seems, they're much stronger than you could ever give them credit for. Perhaps not in body, but definitely in spirit. No matter how bad the circumstances are, they have each others' backs and can always find joy and fun in day-to-day things."

He was now smiling a little, recalling things that Pyrrha could only guess at.

"But to think…" Weiss began. "That Torchwick and the White Fang would choose to hide out somewhere even remotely close to this area…"

And just like that, whatever good mood Jaune's words had been building up suddenly vanished. In fact, Pyrrha was now feeling extremely worried.

If they were able to find these criminals and if things did come to a fight here of all places…

She shivered alongside Ruby and a few of the others.

The livelihood of people such as Patrice was at stake here.

It was one thing to know on a purely intellectual level the sort of threat Roman Torchwick and the White Fang posed to the populace, but to now see for herself, if only for a moment, how some people live and how much they've lost and what more they could lose, this all became that much more serious.

"That's why we're doing this," Jaune said, his voice like steel now. "So that Patrice and everyone else could sleep just a bit easier from now on."

They all stood a little straighter at those words, their expressions shifting to ones of pure determination.

He was right. As of now, they could very well be the only ones standing between the people living here and scum like Torchwick.

Pyrrha's hands clenched into tight fists.

Somehow, she'd just gained a bit more insight into how Jaune ended up the way he is, or so she now thought.

And now that she's had a glimpse at what he must have dealt with, she made a silent vow to do the same.

A huntress in training she may be, but she wouldn't stand by if others were at risk.

With her resolve now strengthened, she marched with greater vigor than ever before as Jaune led them all to where they had to go.

* * *

"Shit…" someone mumbled.

"Yeah," came the simple reply.

The two mumbling to themselves were members of the White Fang, currently disguised as bums in order to blend in better with the environment, said environment being the rundown area that their current targets were traversing.

Just a day or two ago, that Torchwick bastard had rounded the two of them up along with a few others and told them to head out into the field and monitor some students from Beacon, two in particular – a blond boy named Jaune and one of their own, a cat Faunus with black hair and yellow eyes.

They didn't have much to go on other than that and when they'd pointed out as much, Torchwick had told them to stop their bitching and just go out there and keep an eye out in case the teens in question headed out into Vale.

They'd been sent out really damn early this morning, with these two in particular being told to hang back and 'act like the bums you are' (to quote that bowl hat wearing shitbag) while the rest of them headed out into Vale and pretend to be early morning shoppers on the main streets.

Having been provided rough sketches of their targets, they were to wait out in their positions for a solid several hours if need be, something they'd all whined about only for their cries of despair to go ignored.

But much to their surprise, their targets along with their friends had been spotted very early on by a few of their allies, who'd then gone on to discreetly follow them for a bit before breaking away, texting them the direction the targets were last seen walking in.

Having been bumming around elsewhere initially, these two White Fang members, dubbed simply the Ragged Tagged Duo (RTD), had to rush several blocks over to get to where their targets were supposedly at.

And the two of them had managed to get settled in just in the nick of time to see the blond named Jaune and the other girl, the cat Faunus, along with their friends rounding the corner.

"I can't believe we actually spotted them," commented RTD #1. "Why the hell would they be out in Vale this damn early?"

RTD #2 shrugged. "To look for where Torchwick is at or something? Given what we've heard happened at the docks and the recent failure of those two humans, seems like there might be a trend going on now."

"Well, yeah, that makes sense, but just how often have you heard or seen teens going around hunting for criminals?"

"This is the first time, man. But I guess there's a first time for everything?"

"Ain't exactly a good thing, though… so, just what the hell do we do now?"

"Dunno. As far as I can recall, we're just supposed to keep an eye on them, see where they go."

"Okay, sounds simple enough… but are we supposed to take them out if they get too close to our base?"

"Eh, I kinda doubt that – them finding our base, that is. I mean, there's a lot of places for them to look if that's their game plan. Plus, even if they do find it, they'll be so outnumbered, it's not even funny."

"But didn't that blond human totally ruin the docks operation by himself?"

"Not by himself, nah – that race traitor along with, like, two others were there too."

"But I mean, didn't the blond human do the most harm to the operation? Shit, just look at Torchwick. As much as that guy had it coming, he looked like hell afterwards."

RTD #2 remained silent for a few seconds. RTD #1 had a point there.

Their quiet yet rapid-fire conversation ceased for a while as they watched their targets walk down the streets, heading further into the shithole known as Vale's abandoned districts.

RTD #2 finally spoke. "Well damn, looks like we do have to follow them now."

"Eh, I expected shit like this to happen – we always get the short straw anyways," remarked RTD #1. "But do you think we'll be able to follow them without being spotted?"

"We should be fine. Worst comes to worst, we just play it off as us being homeless Faunus. Your scales are dull and messed up enough to pull off the hobo look and my horns have seen better days anyways." RTD #2 said this with clenched teeth, not exactly liking to put himself and his buddy down, especially when his goat horns were looking short and cracked while his comrade's snake scale were all but literally peeling off after many years of abuse and fighting.

Speaking of RTD #1, he took the words with only a sigh of mild bemusement. "Guess that's true. Let's go, I guess…. Wait, which team should we be following? Looks like our targets are on different teams or something?"

Before RTD #2 could respond, he suddenly stopped and shivered, a chill running down his spine.

On instinct, he then spun around, feeling very much alert – only to see nothing there.

"What's up?" his buddy asked, worried and tensed.

"…Just felt like someone was suddenly behind me," RTD #2 responded before letting out a long sigh. "Ah, to hell with it. We'll follow the race traitor and her group – they'd probably be more likely to cause trouble anyways somehow. Let's just radio the others to try and catch up with the blond human and his team later."

"Alright, sounds good."

As the Ragged Tagged Duo gathered up their (fake) hobo stuff and prepared to follow after intended observation targets, they remained oblivious to the truth of the matter-.

-Someone truly had been behind RTD #2, having been following the teens from afar as well, in addition to listening in on the mooks' conversation.

And so, through some liberal usage of her semblance and her own natural speed, a smirking Neo proceeded to head after team JNPR as they broke away from team RWBY.

* * *

As Cinder sat down, she tried to relax, tried to clear her mind of any unwanted thoughts. Alas, she found herself unable to.

Though she'd made sure to hint otherwise to the likes of Roman and the White Fang grunts working for them, she truly was at a bit of a loss of what to do.

Despite having made it clear to Roman to make up for all the Dust lost at the docks by going back to raiding Dust shops, she knew all too well that such a thing would only do so much. Dust shops only carried so much Dust when compared to the literal ship full that had been at the docks.

Still, Roman would do his best – his very life depended on it, after all. But even then, it still wouldn't quite be enough and she and Roman both knew that.

That said, they should already have enough Dust to carry out the next stage of the plan anyways, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Given just how thick the ground could be, the train she was intending to crash into Vale via Mount Glenn's underground settlement may not currently be equipped with enough Dust to blow open wide holes in the ground above.

As for the other part of her plan, the more she thought on how to carry on with it, the more unsure she now felt about it.

The initial idea had been to infiltrate Beacon itself as students alongside Emerald and Mercury. But thanks to their screw-up, that may no longer be possible and she highly doubted there was anyone else capable enough to replace them for such roles on short notice. She did consider perhaps making use of that Neo woman, have her use her semblance to disguise her two subordinates, but then dismissed this idea – it was too impractical; if the physical illusions in this scenario were touched just a bit too forcefully even by accident, they'd shatter like glass and expose Emerald's and Mercury's true appearances. And given that this Blake girl had no doubt told the headmaster about the failed assassination, that would only result in them being trapped in such a scenario too.

Cinder then tried thinking of another way to infiltrate Beacon, both so that she could deliver the virus that infuriating Watts had concocted for her and so that she could locate Amber and obtain the other half of the Fall Maiden power.

Unfortunately, nothing concrete was coming to mind. Certainly, she could attempt to sneak her way onto Beacon during that stupid dance of theirs and into the CCT tower there, but that would require her to make her way there by foot or some other method since any and all bullheads and smaller ships would be spotted miles away by Beacon's staff. That would mean having to likely fight her way through the forests surrounding Beacon and while no Grimm could ever pose a challenge to her, the noise would only risk discovery. And she didn't dare consider contacting her master to see if she could just have the Grimm ignore her during that time – even for one such as Salem, controlling the Grimm wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially not from so far away.

Despite her usual composure, Cinder sighed as she ran a hand through her hair before turning to glare at both of her subordinates who were sitting down not too far away from her. Both of them flinched at her gaze, her eyes glowing with power, but made no comment. They knew better than to talk.

But as soon as they flinched, Cinder sighed again and looked away. Annoying as this all was, it wouldn't do to put them so on edge. There was a time and place for intimidation. To indulge in this too much would be to risk them possibly turning against her. That may not seem likely given Emerald's affection for her and Mercury's pragmatism, but it was best to not risk it.

In any case, no practical solutions were presenting themselves to her regarding her current predicament… all except for one.

The thought was enough to nearly make her grit her teeth, but she managed to keep from doing so.

"Leave me be for a few minutes," she ordered.

Emerald and Mercury nodded and took their leave from the room as quickly as was possible.

As soon as she confirmed she could no longer hear their footsteps, she pulled out her scroll and made a call.

It rang for a solid minute, something that she knew was on purpose. The person she was calling liked to do petty things like that to her.

But she endured the humiliation and sure enough, the man finally answered.

"Ah, Cinder," Arthur Watts spoke with that same mocking and self-important tone of his as always. "I must say, I never expected you to call me of all people. Dare I assume your opinion of me has improved?"

Cinder had to fight hard not to rise to the bait. For as long as she's known him, Arthur Watts, fellow member of Salem's inner circle, had never liked her and vice versa. Alas, he was much better at riling her up than she was at doing the same to him.

"Something has come up," she began.

"Oh? Has your oh so brilliant plan hit a stone wall? Consider me surprised."

"Of a sort," Cinder admitted most reluctantly, now reconsidering if this was even worth the trouble anymore. "Circumstances have changed, something that I'm sure not even you could've accounted for. It's only natural that I in turn modify my plans to adapt for said change."

"A wise decision coming from you," Watts drawled. "And I suppose this change in circumstance is something you require my assistance for?"

"Your virus… implementing it may not be so easy to do anymore."

"Not so easy… Cinder, are you perhaps suggesting that my pathetic former comrades have somehow improved their systems enough to ward off a virus of my design?" Watts sounded almost offended.

Cinder would never dare claim to even remotely know every single detail about her 'comrades,' but it was well-known to her that Arthur Watts had been a native to the kingdom of Atlas, having once been a scientist working within the military's intelligence and communications division.

He's never had a high opinion of the Atlas military even back then, but ever since he's joined Salem, his attitude towards his former home had worsened even more. As far as he was concerned, the Atlas military had never once been worthy of his genius, or so Cinder could deduce from her interactions, however forced, with him.

It was with this in mind that she now almost found it in her to smirk a bit. Even the slightest implications that Atlas somehow had one-upped him was something that could get him to help her without having much demanded of her in return.

Watts may be a cold-hearted, cruel and vindictive man, but he was also quite arrogant and didn't take slights to his pride, real or not, particularly well. In this one respect, he was controllable, albeit only very marginally.

"Thanks to certain things I'm not quite able to discuss openly just yet," Cinder began. "It would seem that now uploading the virus directly may no longer be possible. So, I was now wondering if it would be possible to try and do so from afar, lest the Atlas military catch me in the act and isolate your work."

Ordinarily, infecting specific parts of the CCT would only be possible by uploading a virus directly to the appropriate terminal. And infecting intranets like what the Atlas military uses would be impossible from an outside source.

However, while she was loathe to admit it, Watts really was a brilliant man. She's seen him work and has witnessed him pulling off things that any computer-savy person would say – correctly at that too – are impossible.

She knew not how he was capable of such things, but he was. And it was this ability of his that she now had a use for.

Alas…

"…Hmph. No, Atlas technology is still well behind what I alone am capable of," he spoke, clearly talking to himself. "You just can't bring yourself to actually infiltrate the CCT tower at Beacon, can't you?"

"You are not… entirely wrong," Cinder admitted. She'd been tempted to remain silent, but that'd be just as much of an admission of truth too. "It's not that I don't want to, however. I did not lie when I said there's been a change in circumstances. "

Watts let out an aggravated sigh before responding. "…Is the Atlas military still on its way?" he asked.

"Yes," Cinder replied.

Due in part to the Vytal Festival coming up soon and also in part to other machinations that Ozpin and his own inner circle have been trying to keep up with, general James Ironwood would be on his way to Beacon in due time, no doubt some time just before that dance of theirs. And being such a paranoid man – albeit rightfully so – he'll be bringing quite the fleet with him along with that robot army of his, which was another essential part of her plan.

Thanks to her own connections, she was well aware of the general's eventual arrival and she relayed this information to Watts.

After listening to this in silence, Watts sighed again. "…Very well, I shall aid you in this endeavor of yours, if only out of respect for this… change in circumstances. But do not think I will let this go without a price, Cinder. I intend to collect a 'fee' at some point down the line and you shall do your best to pay it."

"Deliver on your end first and I will do just that," she replied.

"So be it. I will contact you once I have finished my newest invention then," Watts said and promptly hung up.

Cinder tucked away her scroll immediately thereafter, feeling simultaneously better and worse than before.

On the one hand, she should now be able to still infect the CCT and eventually Ironwood's army as planned. On the other hand, whatever price Watts would demand she pay would no doubt be quite a difficult one. Oh, it wouldn't be some financial thing, no, Watts couldn't care less for lien no matter how great the sum. But rather, it would be something else, no doubt difficult to obtain and he'd expect her to deliver. Even worse, Salem would also expect her to repay this debt as well. The woman was not exactly tolerant of dissension among her ranks, after all, no matter what form it took.

But for the sake of her own goals, it will be done.

And perhaps one day, she finally gained the power she rightfully earned, she'll be able to do away with Watts, if only for a little fun.

…Yeah, now that she thought of it, that would be quite a stress-reliever indeed.

* * *

Neo tapped up a quick text to Roman, letting him know what was currently going on.

Namely, that she was following her intended target as planned. The blond teen in question, the one named Jaune, had gone one way with three others – presumably his teammates – while the four other girls had gone another way.

For a brief second, she'd worried the other four girls would be heading straight for their base, but she'd let out a silent sigh when she saw the girls were heading in a slightly different direction.

Sheesh, but talk about a hassle. To think there was a chance, however slight, of their new base being found by some teens… times were changing, it seemed. She wasn't exactly a fan of such change, not unless she and Roman were the ones causing it.

But anyways, she was getting a bit distracted.

For the past several minutes now, she's been following her target from a fair distance, using her semblance of physical illusions to blend into the background as needed.

Though her longtime friend had tasked her with trying to lead the blond and his friends well away from their base and hopefully to that Cinder bitch, this was a task she's yet to start with. Partially because she first wanted to get a feel for how alert the teens were and how they generally acted, but also partially because, well, she didn't exactly have a location for their 'boss.'

Just as they didn't trust Cinder one bit to not try killing them if or when they ceased being useful, the woman clearly didn't trust them to know where she could be cooped up at right now. For all Neo knew, Cinder could either be staying in a sty of a place like she, Roman and the White Fang were doing right now or the fire-user could be cozying it up in a nice luxury suite somewhere in Vale.

So, yeah, despite Roman's hopes, Neo wasn't going to bank on just leading her target on a chase and get lucky with leading him to Cinder.

But just because getting them to possibly off each other was a no-go didn't mean she still couldn't fulfill her task. She had, after all, been told to essentially distract them.

That could be done easily enough.

Picking up her pace, Neo began to swiftly close the distance between her and the team of four. Before, she'd been hanging back at least a solid ten meters, but now that distance was shortened to several meters, then several yards.

Despite her increased pace, she was practically tip-toeing on her diminutive feet just on the off chance the teens were just that alert for any and all threats. Not that she was too worried, though remembering the state her good friend had been in kept her from acting as haughty as she knows she normally is. When it came to combat, Roman was definitely not on her level but he was no slouch either, especially since he tended to fight a lot dirtier than she did to make up for the difference in fighting ability. So if this blond teen really did do all that damage all by himself then he must be a cut or two above the usual people she's gone up against.

Certainly, that required a fair level of caution even from her… but it also made her all the more interested in seeing for herself what he can do.

But first things first.

With this area being a usual hotbed for criminal activity or serving as a temporary home for the homeless and downtrodden, there were plenty of things just lying about, ranging from simple litter to more… unsanitary things, things she would normally not even deign to think of since it was just that disgusting.

This meant she wasn't lacking in items to be picked up and used however she pleased. To demonstrate this, she deftly picked up a crushed beer can and then with an unnecessary flourish, chucked it far, the can clanking against the side of a building.

Thanks to how eerily silent the abandoned area currently was, the sudden noise definitely got the teens' attention, for they all stopped walking and tensed up. They didn't quite draw their weapons, but their hands were certainly reaching for them.

"Jaune," spoke the redhead of the group. "Tell me – do you think that might be nothing?"

"…No. It could be something," the blond teen said in an all too intense voice. Neo almost got shivers just from listening. "There are 'seasons' where this area has plenty of gangs and homeless rolling through for one reason or another. This isn't one of those times."

Her target then took the initiative, walking towards the can with a hand on one of his swords. By this point in time, Neo had already gone ahead, slinking down an alleyway that she'd thrown the can near. As she rounded the corner, she intentionally kicked at the ground a little, making sure to scuff her heels against the gravel (though not too hard – these heels are pricey!).

As expected, that got her target's attention even more, enough to make him put on a rather surprising burst of speed as he charged down the corner.

But of course, since she'd had the head-start and still was using her semblance, she'd been able to hide inside of the nearest building. She'd made sure to use her semblance to make it seem as if there was only a wall where the busted door she'd gone through was.

She heard the teen's friends call out to him, but he didn't reply. Instead, a few seconds later, she heard very faint sounds of the others moving but not in this direction. He must have signaled them to spread out or something. A smart move, but a pity that his teammates weren't quite so skilled at keeping completely silent.

Neo remained still, almost casually so as the blond teen, Jaune, then approached the spot where the door was. She all but staring directly at him now from just a few feet away.

He pulled out his scroll and hit speed dial on it.

"Ruby? My team and I might have something here. We're going to investigate it," he said and then remained silent as the person he called, no doubt one of those other girls that had gone off the other way, responded. After a few seconds, Jaune responded. "No, it's fine. If something really does happen, we'll call you at the very first chance we get. Just wanted to keep you apprised of the situation is all…. yeah, just stick to your part of the search area. Be careful too – we're definitely not alone."

Neo frowned. Perhaps doing things this way had been a slight mistake… but then, when was the last time anyone she's ever dealt with had made an even halfway decent decision? The number of people who've ever done the smart, pragmatic thing could probably counted on both of her hands with fingers to spare.

With the call ended, the blond, who'd been looking straight ahead, suddenly turned to his right – looking directly at her.

As his gaze fell upon her, Neo actually froze. She's thought as much earlier, but the way he focused on things truly was intense. It was one thing to simply observe from a slight distance and a different angle, but to be on the receiving end of his gaze was different matter entirely.

She froze for only a second, however, and she immediately prepared to move – only to pause when nothing happened.

For a second, she'd been marginally worried he'd somehow seen through her illusion, but as a few more seconds dragged on, she realized that perhaps that wasn't the case.

He then reached out with his right hand… and ended up placing it on the side of the building, just inches away from where the door's busted frame began. If he so much as shifted his hand even a little to his left, his fingers will be gripping the rooting wood that made up the door frame.

"…"

He made a sound that Neo couldn't identify; it was just too low in pitch. But it was enough to make her worry a bit until her blond target finally removed his hand and moved on, his boots crunching at the gravel underfoot.

She waited half a minute before popping her head out, watching as he exited the alleyway and met up with his teammates, now talking quickly and quietly amongst themselves.

Whatever they were talking about, they now all withdrew their weapons and spread out once more – it seemed that they were now intent on searching this entire area.

The mute woman now let out a silent huff.

…But seriously, that had been oddly nerve-wracking. Fear wasn't exactly something she felt often, much less to the point of freezing up like some average civilian. But something about the sheer intensity of that guy's gaze and the emotions she could practically feel behind those blue eyes of his… it'd been enough to unconsciously put her in a more combative mindset, yet a mindset with the first and foremost objective being to fight long enough to flee safely.

And that was especially not something she felt often. The last time she ever felt that way was when Cinder had strolled into her and Roman's lives and had threatened them with those flames of hers, flames that definitely didn't feel like it could be the work of some semblance or Dust.

The only difference is, though, is that the feeling had been much more intense just now with her target than it had been when she'd first met Cinder.

…

Making sure the teens weren't circling back around, Neo dropped the illusion as she turned around and headed deeper inside the building, intending to go up to the building's second floors and finding a good spot to watch the teens from, if possible.

As she did so, she pulled out her scroll and sent Roman another quick message.

What she said in the message wasn't something that would make her longtime partner all that happy, but it just might have to be done.

It was now a matter of seeing whether or not it would actually be necessary.

* * *

Roman let out a quiet grunt as he got Neo's message.

Not too long ago, he'd gotten the first message from her saying she was just about to begin her task for real now, which had filled him with something akin to hope…

…Only for this second message to crush it.

Oh well, it's not like he'd actually been expecting much really.

 _Keep that stupid paladin ready._

That had been what the message was. Combined with what Neo had said in the first one, it was easy to figure out that there was a chance – not a big chance, but definitely not impossible chance – that kittycat and her stupid friends, which included little red among them no doubt, may come across their base here. And combined with how inept his current subordinates are, he could now foresee yet another disaster coming up soon.

Thankfully, the paladin they'd managed to take from Atlas had finally been brought here, ready to be transported whenever they finally set up and held that stupid rally for the White Fang. Except now, it looks like they were going to have to show off their new toy a bit sooner than expected.

"Hey, Perry," Roman called out, speaking to one of the very few White Fang grunts that was worth a damn. "Go get that paladin fired up."

The Faunus stopped what he was doing to look at him. "Uh, you sure?" he asked in disbelief.

"Not really, no," Roman said before sighing. "But we might have some guests tonight, know what I mean?"

The Faunus could only slowly nod before then taking off to do as told. Really now, Perry truly was the only diamond in the rough around here. Pity he was dumb animal, but Roman will take what he can get.

Worst comes to worst though… hmm, depending on the paladin's firing range, maybe he could aim for that one district not too far from here…

After all, those huntsman and huntress types are always just dying to protect civilians. Might as well see if that same ridiculous and pathetic hero complex is a shared trait amongst these damned kids.

* * *

 **Yet another set-up chapter here and for that I apologize. But as I may have said – can't remember honestly, ha ha – this fic is something of a slow-burner before it really gets the action going.**

 **That said, the set-up here is quite important. As you all just read, Watts will now be playing a role here, albeit a fairly minor one for the time being. But his role will also be one expanded upon in due time. In fact, him, Tyrian and Hazel will be getting some significant screen-time and a bit more, but not until things really pick up. I do hope you will look forward to that.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	15. Chapter 15

Aaaannnd back! Just as stated in the last AN, I will be focusing on this fic for the next month or two. With any luck, I could possibly get a new chapter out every other week, depending on circumstances.

Whelp, not too much has changed since the last chapter, but I did get to see Dark Phoenix. And it was… well, it was okay. Had some fun parts but in the end, it wasn't anything that had me going 'wow!' or anything. And… yeah, not much else to say on that front really.

Also, still been playing DMC5, primarily Bloody Palace. In all seriousness, I really should be practicing in the Void, but I'm the type of guy that needs the pressure of genuine loss to really learn, ha ha. And at the risk of sounding like I'm tooting my own horn here, I'm actually pretty good now! Oh, I'm nowhere near the level of those guys you see on Youtube, but for a while I've always been a rather bad player when it came to using Dante, primarily because even though I'm a terribly simple and straightforward man, I try to use at least 80% of Dante's weapons and styles.

And after getting my ass kicked even by Goliath of all bosses on floor 20, I got indignant and gave it another go and made it all the way to floor 90 before losing. Then over the past few weeks, I've just been continuing to play and slowly yet surely getting better at clearing each floor faster and with much less damage sustained. Now I was able to almost beat Urizen on floor 100 – only to lose when he only had less than a quarter of his health left! But I'm getting there – before, I barely even broke his shield by the time he killed me on floor 99, ha ha.

But oh man, I can only imagine how hard it'll be to beat Bloody Palace with V of all people…

Heh, but enough of my bragging/lamenting! Time for the chapter!

Chapter 15

"Jaune and the others may have found something," Ruby immediately said after hanging up her scroll.

And Weiss, while having expected something to have happened simply by how serious her partner/leader had looked during the call, now tensed up upon having her suspicion confirmed.

"Will they need us to regroup with them?" she asked.

But to her surprise, Ruby shook her head. "No, for now they'll look into it while we keep doing what we're doing. For all we know, it could just be nothing – no point in heading to them if all we could end up doing is wasting time."

From beside her, Blake grimaced. "But if it does turn out to be the White Fang…"

"They can handle it," Ruby said with confidence. "I mean, Pyrrha's there and Nora's a real powerhouse too. Ren is Nora's partner for a reason and then, of course, there's Jaune."

At the mention of the blond leader of their fellow team, Weiss quirked an eyebrow as Ruby and Blake then shared a certain knowing look. The heiress could practically see the tension and worry leave the Faunus' body. Not completely, but enough to be noticeable to her sharp eyes.

"I… no, that's true," Blake admitted.

Yang was quick to comment. "Got a lot of confidence in Jaune, eh? Something Weiss and I are being left out of the loop here about?"

"…You would've had to be there at the docks to really understand," Blake responded rather enigmatically, but with something of a bemused smile now. "But he can take care of himself easily enough. Now come on – we're burning daylight here."

Using her semblance, Blake made a clone that then launched her up into the air. She then used the bows of Gambol Shroud to latch onto a nearby pole that looked dangerously unstable and promptly launched herself further up so that she was now on the roof of the building ahead of them.

Weiss sighed. She felt like she was out of the loop on something here, but this wasn't exactly a good time to be questioning things. Still, she wasn't going to let this go that easily. "Whatever the two of you are keeping quiet about, I expect to hear one day, Ruby," she said sternly.

"You got it!" Ruby replied.

"Heh, man, Jaune is really popular now to have all of our attention," Yang quipped before jumping up to the roof of another nearby building, using the recoil from Ember Celica to give herself a boost.

"It's not like that!" Ruby yelled after her, only for the blonde brawler to just laugh a little and begin roof hopping.

Weiss huffed in amusement. "Now come on. Didn't you and Blake say we had to get moving?"

She enjoyed her leader's sputtering for a brief second before dashing down the alleyway. But despite her head-start just now, Ruby caught up quickly enough.

"How do you want to do this?" she then asked, focusing on the task at hand now.

Ruby got serious too. "Well, with Blake and Yang patrolling the rooftops for now, we should spread out on the streets and alleyways here. Even with how narrow and tight the turns are, our semblances can handle it, no problem! I'll head left, you go right?"

Weiss nodded, just in time as the two of them reached the end of the current alleyway, which ended quite abruptly as Jaune had pointed out earlier. "Very well. Let's start."

With a minimal level of concentration, Weiss formed a glyph on the wall directly ahead. She then jumped and twirled around in midair so that she landed feet-first on the glyph. It was an acceleration glyph and one aimed directly to the right. As such, she was immediately launched in that direction, moving with grace as she literally ran sideways on the wall.

And behind her, she could hear Ruby activate her own semblance as well, her partner's signature red cloak practically covering her up entirely as she almost literally flew off the ground and made a sharp left with one fluid movement.

Weiss couldn't help but admire this movement for a brief instance – her partner looked like a red cyclone to her eyes, not that she'd ever tell Ruby that since it'd probably lead her to enthusiastically coming up with ridiculous nicknames or something.

It was bad enough being called ice queen or Weiss-cream on occasion.

But she was digressing.

According to all the info their 'mission' was based on – which really wasn't much – any and all signs of occupation within any of these buildings would be horribly obvious. After all, with as much manpower as was needed to keep a 'hidden base' up and running for both Roman Torchwick and the White Fang somehow working with him, there'd be signs of at least some level of cleanliness and remodeling.

There was, of course, no way the likes of Torchwick and the White Fang would risk falling ill because of how unclean all of these buildings were nor would they be that willing to go without at least some basic comforts especially since these buildings looked like they'd cave in on themselves with a strong enough blow. Furthermore, while the White Fang wouldn't have much problem working in the dark, the same couldn't be said for Vale's resident thief, who would need some measure of light to work with. This wasn't even including whatever equipment they no doubt had that required power. This meant there'd be a generator and even if they kept it hidden somewhere, it would undoubtedly be making a fair bit of noise and likely have some measure of security around it.

And as Weiss had learned through her years of trying to live up to her father's ridiculous expectations – expectations that had required her to accompany him and others to observe how things are done out in the field, so to speak – she's come to understand some basics of security.

And the thing about security? It was always obvious. It was, after all, meant first and foremost to intimidate people into not even thinking of trying anything. That'd be impossible to do if it couldn't be seen.

While she wasn't sure how exactly the White Fang did things compared to what she's seen, surely the basics still applied, right? And besides, from what she could tell, it didn't seem like Torchwick had been given the more competent members to work with.

All in all, this meant she and the others were to free to explore the search area at a rather decent pace, so long as they made sure to investigate anything that looked obviously out of the ordinary. But of course, given just how big the search area is, even with their mobility, covering it all in one day may not be doable, especially if they really wanted to be thorough.

Even so…

After using her semblance to once more dash across the walls, Weiss formed several more ahead of her, accelerating drastically with each one she dashed across.

She was moving at truly dangerous speeds for a trainee. If her reflexes dulled for even a millisecond, she'll go crashing right through a building and aura would only keep her so safe from injury.

But she wasn't just like other first year trainees. She'd had years to learn how to use her semblance effectively. Even with how fast she was going, she could still clearly see where she was going and knew for a fact she could respond in time.

Sure enough, as she traversed the alleyways, they started to get even narrower and shorter, living up to the labyrinth-like design she's read about. But even so, she was still able to maintain her overall speed even as she had to keep making sharper and shaper turns.

It wasn't until she reached the end of the alleyways and went leaping out into an open street that she ceased with her mad dash. Instead, as she all but literally flew through the air, she made another glyph to gradually pull her towards the ground, where she landed with all the grace of a ballerina, her (combat) skirt fluttering lightly as she did so.

She frowned as she then stood.

She of all people knew better than to be so impatient, but even so, she'd been expecting to find at least something during her brief run just now. Alas, there'd been nothing save for increasingly rundown buildings, with a bunch of graffiti all over the walls. Seems like this part of the abandoned district was popular with common street thugs.

And… addicts too, she thought in distaste, noticing a bunch of old, dirty and broken needles all over the street now.

She tried not to crinkle in disgust, but it was hard not to. It just boggled her mind to see such a comically blatant mess, only there was nothing comical about it. No, if anything, it was just… sad. The kingdoms weren't perfect, but even so, she'd naively thought things were better than they really were, a sign of her somewhat sheltered upbringing, she noted.

Just how could have things come to this? She spent a second to ponder this.

Was the loss of this district that a big a blow to the people that had tried to make a living here? Or was it something else? Despite her education in the matters of economics and even psychology, it was a whole other thing to see firsthand the fallout of decisions that impacted things on such a large scale.

Why hasn't the council tried pushing for this district to be cleaned up and repurposed? Surely that would be way better than just letting it all fall into continual ruin like this. She could only imagine why, however.

In any case, the kingdom's lack of action on this front may be one of several reasons why this area was the perfect place for the likes of Torchwick and the White Fang to set up in – not many would exactly be willing to approach if it could be helped. And under different circumstances, Weiss knew she definitely wouldn't be anywhere near this area.

But here she was, exposed to all this. She was seeing firsthand just how horrible the ruin and decay really was and she had no choice but to press forward deeper into it all in order to find and hopefully stop the White Fang and Torchwick from continuing their criminal acts.

That said… she wasn't exactly eager to press forward with all these needles, grunge, excrement and tatter clothing lying around that particular area.

Making a sound she's never heard herself make before, she pulled out Myrtenaster and switched around the Dust chamber so that the ice Dust was set.

"I can't believe I'm using Dust for this…" she murmured before stabbing at the street. Putting as much aura as she could afford to waste right now, she activated the Dust and created a frozen path of thick ice for her to walk on, a path that extended at an angle all the way across the street, to where things were just a tad bit cleaner, only marginally acceptable in her eyes but better than nothing.

As she gracefully skied across the ice, she did her best to ignore the sights around her but knew her mind wouldn't obey that easily.

And all the while, she remained unaware of eyes that were watching from afar.

RTD #1 was gasping, completely out of breath from trying to keep up with the Schnee heiress, as he picked up his scroll.

"B-Boss, one of them is getting kinda close to the base!"

* * *

"B-Boss, one of them is getting kinda close to the base!"

As soon as Roman received that brief statement, he huffed and proceeded to limp his way out of the room. "And just how close is 'kinda close?'"

The Faunus on the other end of the call took a second to catch his breath. "U-Uh, like maybe… seven or eight city blocks?"

Roman sighed. Seriously, he thought, what were the odds of one of the damned kids already getting that close to the base? He knew it was kind of inevitable, but that didn't mean it should've happened that quickly.

"Well, at least we got some kind of heads-up," he mumbled to himself before then addressing the goon. "Which kid? Little red? Or that blond freak?"

"Nah, it's the bitch of a Schnee heiress!" the guy growled out in response, rage evident in his voice. Most others would likely be intimidated by such intensity.

Roman, however, was completely unimpressed. "Right, right, hold back that hate boner of yours. Sheesh, you animals and your anger towards the Schnee… you think you bunch are the only ones that get screwed over?" He couldn't help but grumble, the result of all the shit he's been having to deal with recently. "Ah, whatever. You and your buddy just keep tracking her for now. If she gets too close, try distracting her somehow."

As soon as he said that, he immediately hung up before RTD #1 could even think of a reply. Roman then increased his pace as best as he could and found the nearest other White Fang grunt he could find.

"Perry get that damned paladin up and running yet?" he demanded.

"Just about done from what I heard," the grunt responded as he adjusted his uniform to better fit his lizard tail. "Only needed to do a… systems check?"

Roman grunted. Good enough.

He limped his way with even greater speed to where they were had the paladin stashed. As he did so, he was immediately greeted by the sight of a massive mecha standing proudly in the center of the large room they kept it in, Perry fiddling around with something within the cockpit.

"Perry, you almost done with that system check or whatever?" he asked.

"Almost," the guy responded. He fiddled around a bit more and the paladin's left arm moved a bit. He and Perry watched this movement in complete silence. "Paladin itself is all ready to go pretty much, but it's just doing some final diagnostic checks before anyone can really go moving it around."

"How long until it's done?"

Perry could only shrug. "Like another twenty minutes? Maybe even a half hour?"

"And if we try to make it do anything before the check is fully done?"

"Well, moving it around shouldn't be hard to do, but you probably won't have full access to its other weaponry until the check is done. Likely to avoid accidentally blowing itself up with a faulty missile or something."

Roman really wanted to whine over this, but managed to hold his tongue, a herculean feat for him. As frustrated as he was, he knew complaining wasn't going to do anything good. Perry did make a point, sadly enough.

"Fine then. Get out of the cockpit then. Let me take a look at that big boy," Roman then said.

"U-Uhm, you sure, boss? I mean, your leg-," Perry started.

"-Isn't fully healed, yeah yeah. But don't really need it to pilot a freakin' mech. Now skedaddle," Roman interrupted. "And got the others ready to fight, just in case. I'm really not liking how things are going here."

Perry acquiesced with some level of reluctance and Roman hopped in as soon as the Faunus left. Getting comfortable within the mecha, Roman started to look things over. When they'd first obtained this piece of junk, he'd given himself a quick crash course in how to pilot it and now he was just relearning all of that. Piloting Atlas tech was by no means an easy thing to do, but he was by no means stupid. Shouldn't take him too long to familiarize himself with it.

Hopefully, he won't actually need to use the paladin unless necessary, but if nothing else, Neo and the RTD guys should be able to distract their unwanted guests until the diagnostics check is fully done.

And besides, worst really comes to worst, targeting that civilian area should prove helpful…

* * *

Jaune moved alongside Pyrrha with a certain caution to his movements.

They weren't alone.

This wasn't something he could confirm through his physical senses yet his instincts were all but screaming at him that someone else was in the area, someone who meant him harm. But more importantly than that, this someone meant his teammates harm.

Like hell he'd let such a thing come to pass.

Except preventing this wouldn't be possible unless he and his friends could locate this person first.

The only good thing to come out of this new circumstance was that he now knew with certainty that whatever had grabbed his attention earlier hadn't merely been some random thing but an actual and tangible threat.

Now, some would question how an actual threat would be preferable to some random coincidence, but to him, it was a welcome surprise – it meant they were on the right track.

"Pyrrha?" He called his partner's name quietly.

The redhead shook her head lightly. "Nothing yet."

He nodded in understanding and they continued their trek.

After they'd first split up and gone around that building earlier, when they'd reconvened, Jaune had explained his suspicions to the others and they'd broken off into their respective pairs to scope out the rest of this section. For it was most likely that whoever was stalking them wouldn't be letting them progress any close to where Roman and the White Fang were at.

And how did Jaune know this unknown stalker was affiliated with them? He didn't, actually. But it'd be even odder if they were being followed by some random sadistic attacker or whatnot.

In any case, this person who meant them harm was also very likely armed and so he was relying on Pyrrha using her semblance to try and get a feel for where the person may be by using her semblance to sense the metal all around them.

Unfortunately, this was turning out to be a bit of a bust. Though his partner could sense the presence of metal and other objects that her polarity can affect, she couldn't do so with enough accuracy to tell what the metal actually was or if someone was currently holding it.

Pyrrha did say earlier, however, that if their stalker does get close enough, she should be able to sense them then. A bit of risky maneuver to be sure, since letting the stalker get within striking distance of them would put Pyrrha at risk, but it was their only real tactic for the time being, not unless he wished to start swinging his swords and cut down the buildings, but that'd only be causing currently unnecessary property damage, even if this entire area had long since been abandoned.

The rules of the kingdom were oddly ridiculous like that.

Having yet to draw either of his blades, Jaune kept one hand resting on the hilt of one of them while using his free hand to raise his scroll and call Ren.

"Anything on your end?" he asked.

"Nothing yet. But the long this goes on, the more uneasy I feel. You were right, Jaune – someone is definitely following us, but I can't get a read on where they are. Whoever this is, they're good."

"Agreed. Stay sharp and let us know if anything comes up."

Ren replied in the affirmative and the call ended.

As he tucked his scroll away in his pocket, Pyrrha spoke up. "Should we really continue with the searching?" she asked.

She was referring to the search for Roman and the White Fang.

"For now, no. Not until we smoke out the stalker and deal with them first. If we leave them be, then whoever it is will likely try to interfere later on anyways."

Better to deal a preemptive strike than to wait and let the enemy make the first move. This was a lesson he learned long ago during his travels throughout the frontier. After all, letting those that are 'evil' make the first move always results in the loss of innocent life.

That was definitely not something that could be abided in any form.

Pyrrha seemed to understand the logic behind his response without any difficulty and she nodded in agreement. "Right. Then what about RWBY? What if there's more than just one stalker?"

At that, Jaune's grip on his sword tightened a bit.

The thought had definitely crossed his mind, but he did his very best to not dwell on it too much – to do so would be for his, well, for his hero complex to really start rearing its possessive head. If that happened, he'd find himself being mentally pulled in too many directions, which was the last thing he could afford right now.

This current task required all of his focus.

Thus, he could only pray that whatever the situation may be for his other friends, that they'd be okay.

"They're more than capable of fending for themselves," he stated. "If there is anyone stalking them too, then that stalker is in for only a rude awakening."

He then looked to Pyrrha, his blue eyes as intense as always. "And so is our own stalker."

Pyrrha smiled confidently in response to his bravado.

"Right. Then in that case, if it comes down to it, let's show our follower just how good us first year trainees can be under pressure."

Allowing himself a small smile, he and his partner ventured forth ever deeper into the abandoned district.

* * *

Elsewhere within the district, Ren and Nora were scoping things out too, much like how Jaune and Pyrrha were doing.

Well, it was mainly Ren doing the whole 'scoping out' thing. Nora was more preoccupied with trying to not just smash everything up with Magnhild.

She was crazy like that. But that was Nora for you, Ren thought.

Stormflower drawn but held at his sides for now, Ren walked the streets aimlessly, except he really wasn't – he was walking the streets in a very specific order that only he and Nora were privy to, something they used to do during their travels across the kingdom as they made their way to Beacon initially.

To whomever their stalker was, it would only (hopefully) seem like they were just walking randomly, without direction nor purpose, which would in turn hopefully embolden the follower into finally making a move and breaking this building tension.

Alas, nothing has happened yet.

It was wearing Nora's patience down at a fast pace, as was to be expected of the excitable girl. But even Ren himself was feeling the pressure now.

It especially didn't help that every now and then, he'd hear or even see random empty cans and pieces of debris and dirt being kicked up into the air, no doubt in an attempt to startle them like teens out of a cheesy horror flick.

But as much as the tension was getting to him, Ren remained outwardly unaffected. His years acting as Nora's restraining bolt had helped hone his reflexes and sharpen his senses as much as was possible.

It was why Jaune had ultimately broken up the team the way he had. In addition to each respective pair being most familiar with one another, it was also for the sake of balance. Jaune, the heavy hitter and the jack-of-all-trades Pyrrha while there was him, the well-rounded speedster and sharpshooter with the tank known as Nora.

And where Pyrrha could use her semblance to act as a pseudo-sixth sense of sorts, Ren had his own sixth sense, tuned as sharply as could be through his regular meditation senses.

Unfortunately, while he could detect the presence of another, he couldn't actually discern where this presence exactly was nor could he note any other possibly helpful details.

All he could tell was that this person was definitely following him and Nora and held some measure of hostile intent towards them.

"Renny~!" Nora whined childishly… except there was a hint of genuine worry to her voice. "I'm getting really antsy here!"

"Me too," he replied quietly as the two of them kept walking. He then paused for a moment, an idea coming to him. He then sighed, not sure if they should really take the risk, but it wasn't as if they had any other options.

He just hoped the others wouldn't mind him and Nora getting a little loud here for a second.

"…When our stalker moves another can or whatever to try grabbing our attention, shoot a grenade," he told Nora.

If their stalker was hoping to whittle down their mental and emotional states through reactions, then he figured they might as well give them an overreaction.

And as if by some divine intervention, some chunk of worn down debris fell from the third floor of a nearby building, crashing to the street below with a very loud thud.

Oh, the absolutely enormous smile on Nora's face in response to both his words and the debris was the stuff of legends – easily in the top 10 of 'Nora's most terrifying expressions ever.'

As soon as that debris hit the ground, Nora whirled around like a girl possessed, Magnhild in its compact gun form as Nora fired not just one but _two_ grenades.

The first one was aimed at where the debris landed whereas the second shot was aimed at where the debris had fallen from.

The resulting explosions of pink colored Dust were more than enough to make the entire building, already on its last legs, crumble apart and it made just as much noise as Ren had expected it to.

As it did so, Ren subtly tensed up, preparing to go on the offensive at the first sign of retaliation from their stalker. Surely, their stalker would be pissed by that.

And as it turned out a split second later, he was right. Except he couldn't possibly account for just how sudden the counter was.

All he knew was that suddenly, something small but surprisingly strong smashed against his solar plexus, making him crumble in a way similar to how the building did just now. But before he could even fully go down, two more hits came, striking him in the side of his face and in his right collarbone.

"Ren!" Nora cried out, the teen in question just barely registering his name being called through the pain.

Nora switched Magnhild into its hammer form and slammed it hard into the ground before them, forming a massive crater and making the entire street for meters on end to rumble as if an earthquake had struck.

Ren could've sworn he heard someone stumble about somewhere and he opened fire even as he finally fell to the ground, gasping for air.

He wasn't sure if he even hit anything, but he wasted no time forcing himself back onto his feet, Nora helping in this process by grabbing him by the back of his collar and pulling him as she leapt back several feet.

"You okay?!" she asked him in great concern.

He wheezed. "I-I'm okay, just need to catch my breath. Did you see anything?"

Nora shook her head quickly.

Ren groaned. Great. It would seem all they'd succeeded in doing was just really angering their seemingly invisible stalker and without any way to actually hit them.

As he finally started to fully regain his senses, Ren focused intensely, trying to find their attacker before they made their next move – only to now begin raising his arms on pure instinct.

It wasn't enough. Something broke past his guard before it could fully form and he felt something hook around his neck and drag him down. Something then slammed right into his face and he saw stars. Even in the midst of his disorientation, however, he was vaguely aware of Nora stepping in now, yelling like a beast in rage.

Except, before Nora could fully bring her hammer down, something seemingly knocked into her left leg as she started leaping forward and she lost her balance. She then got thrown directly at Ren and the two of them went tumbling to the ground.

Knocked down but not out, Ren struggled to get up, clearing the cobwebs from his head as he did so. As he did so, he blinked as he finally saw something amiss – a wave-like shimmer swiftly approaching him and Nora.

It was rather small, but there was no denying now that it was their attacker.

And said person, their true form well-hidden by this shimmer effect, was clearly intending to attack them again.

Not if Ren had something to say about it.

Not willing to throw Nora off him, he merely raised Stormflower and immediately unleashed a short burst of gunfire at the unknown person, only for them to dodge by going to the right. Ren followed along as best as he could, but whoever their attacker was is damn fast, very light on their feet. And shooting from this awkward position on the ground wasn't helping him.

However, just as it looked like their attacker was about to fully close the distance between them, Nora recovered and switched Magnhild back into its gun form.

"Eat this!" she yelled as she fired several grenades in rapid succession.

The grenades went far and wide, some striking the very spot between them and the attacker while the others went to the sides. Unless the attacker was tough or brave enough to continue through the resulting explosions, they'd have no choice but to fall back.

Thankfully, that's exactly what happened.

The two longtime friends used this opening to get back up and steel themselves, now ready to really fight back.

Except, when the smoke cleared just seconds later, the shimmer effect was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Neo, mute as she is, silently huffed in annoyance.

After that near-miss with her blond target, she'd decided to watch him and his teammates for a while before eventually deciding to stalk after the raven-haired boy and auburn haired girl, having figured they'd be a bit easier to deal with than this Jaune and the redhead, who seemed strong enough.

But rather than just leap into action, she'd instead took to typical scare tactics, the kind seen in those cheap horror movies and games. But as cheap as they are, they're still viable tactics, meant to really put people on edge.

She'd intended to steadily wear the teens down mentally before striking when they were most vulnerable, but to her surprise, they'd started fighting back sooner than expected in the form of that damn girl firing those stupid grenades.

She'd been able to escape their counter unharmed, but her clothes had gotten more than a little dusty what with all the debris and stuff. And with how big a mess this entire district is, Neo didn't dare imagine how much other shit must be lying around in the streets and buildings.

Seriously, just because she and Roman were criminal scum (and proud of it) didn't mean they slinked around in shitty neighborhoods or partook in the stuff gangs did.

They had standards, damn it.

Anyways, that had been what had prompted her to go on the attack now, but after being driven off with that second grenade attack, she had to fall back.

Neo knew she was tough, tougher than most, but she didn't dare risk taking those grenades head on. If she did, she could kiss a solid amount of aura goodbye and she was going to need all she can get to keep using her semblance.

Speaking of which, because of her own focus slipping a bit, her illusion that kept her hidden from sight had started to come a bit undone, her form, though still invisible, having been somewhat present thanks to the all too familiar shimmering effect that accompanied her semblance whenever she had trouble maintaining something.

Thankfully, she'd been able to slip away during that second grenade attack and dropped her illusion for the time being as she took shelter in a nearby parking structure.

And she did so just in the nick of time, for just as the smoke from the grenades disappeared…

"Are you two alright?!" yelled out that redhead, trailing just somewhat behind her blond target. No doubt, they'd started running here as soon as that idiot girl first fired her weapon. Her screams and second attack must have only gotten them to run that much faster here.

Great, so all four of them were together again, Neo thought with another huff. Oh well, it's not as if she hadn't expected something like this to happen – even if she'd taken down those two teens' auras and killed them, the other two would definitely be seeking revenge and no doubt would call in that Blake girl and her team to assist.

Not that Neo feared being outnumbered or anything. After all, she was good enough to even potentially take on full-fledged huntsmen and huntresses. A handful of first years wouldn't be much trouble, merely a real annoyance.

Though she thought that… something about that Jaune guy still gave her the chills, especially now as he looked over his friends in great concern before then looking to the street… and spotting the footprints Neo had left behind in the dust.

Neo noticed this at the same time he did and winced a bit but decided to roll with it. As it stands, she was going to have to keep them occupied for a while anyways. With everything going on, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that Roman was likely planning a way to deal with these teens in one move.

Deciding on her course of action, she stepped out into the open just as all four teens, now up on their feet, started to quickly look around.

And as if in perfect synch, like damned robots or something, all four ended up looking in her general direction at the same time she stepped out, though it helped that she made it a point to click her heels as loudly as she could to get their attention.

She smirked as she got their attention – only for her eyes to go almost comically wide when her target, Jaune, suddenly drew his sword and swung with terrifying force.

A massive sonic boom was unleashed by the sheer strength of his swing and something truly insane happened – a miniature vortex that was powerful enough to suck things towards it… and by extension, to him.

This included _her._

The diminutive woman may be light on her feet, but not _that_ light. It took latching onto an old but thankfully sturdy guardrail alongside the parking structure's entrance with the hook of her umbrella to keep from being sucked in.

But as soon as she did this, the blond teen's entire body seemed to glow like a damn sun, nearly blinding her. It only took her mind a microsecond to realize that the light seemingly pouring right out of him was aura, of all things.

And it was concentrating rapidly into his other sword, which he then swung.

A literal wave of aura was unleashed and it was heading directly for her. Thankfully, however, the vortex effect ended just before he unleashed this attack and as soon as Neo's feet were touching the ground again, she made a run for it.

But on a more unfortunate note, the aura wave was moving way too quickly for her to rush out through the parking structure's entrance and to the side. As such, she had no choice but to run deeper into the structure and then bank a sharp right once the wave started catching up with her, cutting through the support pillars like nothing.

Like most other parking structures, even this old one had openings on each level that allowed people to see out into the city. Such openings were naturally quite wide and for someone of Neo's height and petite build, it was child's play to elegantly jump right over the barrier and out into the streets, where she promptly crouched as low as she could.

She did so in just the nick of time, for the aura wave finally struck the main pillars of the entire structure and it promptly exploded, taking the entire thing down like it was nothing.

As low as she was to the ground, Neo was able to avoid being struck by flying rubble, but the sheer force of the explosion was still enough to send her flying.

To say she was shocked would be putting it mildly – she really should've taken Roman's explanations of the kid's freakish strength a bit more seriously.

Alas, she wasn't so shocked as to not open her umbrella. Using the powerful updraft made from the explosion, she was able to carry herself to safety atop another nearby building, where she promptly activated her semblance to hide herself from view and she rushed across the next few rooftops.

Making a large circle back around, she came back to where the teens were at, all of them remaining where they were. They all looked stupefied by what had just happened. Seems like not even they had known what their blond friend was capable of. For some reason, this made Neo feel just a tad bit better; at least she wasn't the only one who'd underestimated this guy.

Still, time for another change of plan – she was going to focus on this guy first, if possible, that is. Letting him live while focusing on the others was just asking for trouble. Of course, if the others give her an opening, she definitely wouldn't ignore it, especially since they could likely be used as hostages.

Using her semblance again just as she leapt to another rooftop, she created another version of herself, which the blond noticed.

"There!" he yelled, snapping his teammates out of their haze.

The fake her smirked in that 'better try harder' way, goading them intentionally while the real her silently dropped down to the lower floor of the building she was on.

The hammer girl opened fire again while the other girl, the redhead, suddenly raised a hand and the nearest steel pipe near her fake just as suddenly bent and nearly whacked her, only for the fake her to deftly leap over it and give a silent jeer in response.

The fake her then leapt to another building before jumping down, looking as if it was going to directly engage them.

The hammer girl, clearly the hotheaded one, charged forth with every visible intent on crushing the fake.

"Nora, wait!" cried out the boy she'd attacked earlier. "I don't think that's her!"

But it was too late.

By the time the girl seemed to heed the boy's warning and tried to abruptly stop, the fake her shattered while the real her leapt at the dumb girl, her physical illusion dropping to reveal herself just as she made contact in the form of her umbrella's tip stabbing right into the girl's throat. It was only because of aura that this blow wasn't a deathblow.

Even so, it clearly hurt the girl a hell of a lot and left her croaking, a sound most pleasurable to Neo as the girl staggered back. Remaining directly in front of the girl, which meant the idiot was directly in between her and the other teens, Neo then hooked the girl by the crotch and flipped her so that she went crashing hard into the street.

But Neo wasn't done just yet.

As soon as the girl hit the ground, Neo did three things simultaneously: she stabbed the tip of her umbrella into the back of the hand that still held that ridiculously huge hammer, drove her right heel into the small of the girl's back, and withdrew the hidden blade of her umbrella with her free hand and placed the sharp blade directly against the side of the hammer girl's neck.

Within the same amount of time it took her to do these three things, the other teens had tried to dash forward to attack her, clearly not wanting to use guns – or those aura swings in the case of that ridiculous Jaune guy – when there was an all too serious risk of hitting this girl in the process. They'd covered a considerable distance, especially in the case of the blond, who was only several yards away as opposed to the other two who were several meters away in comparison.

Really now, seeing how much closer he was to her, it was enough to make Neo really worried. Up close and personal, she likely would be able to beat him – granted, from what Roman had told her, Jaune had pretty much dominated him in their brief fight at the docks, but to be fair, Roman was nowhere near her level of martial skill – but so long as there was even a chance of him using those aura swings of his, Neo didn't like having too much distance between them when there was nothing to distract him with.

Hence her hostage right now. Rather convenient for one to practically present herself to her after her change of plans, but Neo wasn't going to complain.

That said, her hostage was quite a strong girl despite not being that much taller or built than Neo herself. It was only thanks to the girl's less than ideal position that prevented her from fully utilizing her strength to throw Neo off.

Well, that, and the blade right by her neck. Aura or not, no one would exactly be comfortable with such a sharp object so close to them.

But to her surprise, her blond target didn't look too worried. If anything, his gaze intensified as he readied both of his swords. "Pyrrha, move both of them!"

The redhead's expression hardened in concentration and the next thing Neo knew, her blade was suddenly moved with great speed to the side and then behind her. With her grip firmly secured on the blade, Neo ended up getting moved along with her weapon lest her arm get dislocated. At the same time this happened, her hostage was dragged speedily across the ground by her own weapon, the girl's grip on it having remained just as firm too.

Neo recovered quickly enough but going after her now lost hostage wasn't going to be possible as Jaune closed in with two downward slashes of his swords. Neo had no choice but to instead jump back and do a little flip to avoid being struck and then did an additional flip to put some more distance between her and the now rapidly approaching teens.

While being too far away from her blond foe wouldn't be wise given those aura swings, she wanted to see if it was possible to get at least a little further from the redhead, whose semblance had definitely been what had just been used.

Alas, Jaune wasn't going to make that easy. He put on another burst of speed and closed the distance between them, his much taller and muscular form easily overshadowing hers. He swung his left blade at her and then when she ducked under it, he used the momentum to spin himself and try slicing her with his other sword.

Though incredibly fast, Neo was still just a bit faster and her short, petite form allowed her to pull off incredibly acrobatic moves, enabling her to dodge his increasingly powerful swings.

Even so, she was gritting her teeth in worry. No matter how many times he missed, the blond simply used the momentum of his failed attacks to carry himself forward and pressure her back. His moves had looked initially rigid and straightforward but now as he clearly began to adapt to how she moved and fought, he started to move with an increasing lightness to his feet, almost as if he was attempting to mimic how she moved.

Not only that, but with every missed swing of his twin blades, he was getting closer. At first, she'd been ducking, weaving and dodging his slashes with a few inches of breathing room, but now that breathing room was shrinking down to centimeters at best.

All the while, his friends quickly approached as well, obviously intending to support him. It was only because of his proximity to Neo that prevented them from opening fire with their weapons' gun functions.

"…!" Though mute, Neo was still somewhat capable of sound and it now showed through in the form of a surprised gasp when Jaune finally unleashed a massive overhead swing that ended up creating a vortex similar to earlier. Though she dodged the swing itself by twisting to the side, this vortex was able to drag her close to it and in turn towards Jaune.

He then went for a knee as the distance was too short for him to reliably use his blades and Neo in turn had no choice but to use the side of her closed umbrella to deflect the hit while using her blade, still in her other hand, to counter by going for the blond teen's throat.

The sheer strength behind the knee nearly knocked her aside and almost threw off her aim, but her strike remained true… only for Jaune to crane his head down a bit and stop her blade by _biting down on it._

This crazy move stopped her attack in its tracks. Had she tried to really put all her strength and weight into it, she might have been able to maybe force the blade in and stab him through the back of his mouth, but as it is, Neo was too shocked by what just happened to even consider this idea.

But she wasn't so shocked that she didn't respond when the other teens finally caught up and tried to attack her.

The redhead was the first to attack by transforming her weapon into a blade and threw it. Her semblance, magnetism or maybe some form of telekinesis in general Neo reasoned, caused the thrown blade to spin horizontally and travel in a curve that would cut right into her side.

However, Neo immediately abandoned her own blade and jumped back to avoid the thrown weapon and it curved around the blond teen before returning to the redhead.

Meanwhile, the other boy flanked her and opened fire with his weapons. Neo spun her umbrella to deflect the bullets just in time for her now former hostage to approach her and try swinging that hammer of hers again.

For an instant, it looked as if the incoming strike was going to hit her and her attacker's expression was one of elation – only for Neo to revel in her ensuing shock as the criminal used her semblance to fake the girl out for the second time.

As the girl's attack crushed her physical illusion, Neo jabbed her in the side with the tip of her umbrella and then she opened it suddenly, strengthening it with aura so that it pushed the girl back.

The girl went staggering but was able to switch her weapon back into its smaller gun form and fired a few grenades. Neo's smirk faded and she now frowned in concentration as she channeled a bit more aura into her still open umbrella, acting as a shield against the grenades.

Her umbrella survived the resulting explosions intact and with herself unharmed, but it sent her flying back, forcing her to flip around in midair to land on her feet-.

-And leave her open to attack to the redhead who now caught up, with the black-haired boy also flanking her.

The redhead, quite tall and with an appropriate arm reach, made use of this by trying to smash the edge of her shield into her, but Neo tilted her head back as she bent her knees and the shield came short by just an inch. Undeterred, the redhead lashed out with her sword at her exposed knees, but Neo simply kicked off the ground and did a backflip, the edge of her right foot connecting slightly with the girl's jaw.

But as she knocked her back slightly, the boy went on the offensive, his two guns having small blades on the handles that he used to try and cut her. He was essentially mimicking what Jaune had done just earlier, trying to use his blades, speed, and taller former to overwhelm her. However, while certainly fast, he wasn't anywhere near as overwhelming as the blond and so Neo had a much easier time weaving back and around his attacks with ease.

Ducking under one such swing, she reached up and smacked his left gun aside just as he was about to try firing it at point-blank range and then she used the side of her umbrella to hit him in the stomach. This didn't do much to him, for he'd clearly been preparing himself for the hit, but she then twirled her umbrella around and thrust it upwards, hitting him in the chin with the handle before flipping it around again to jab the tip of it into his upper chest. When he stumbled back, she hooked him with the curved hilt around the leg and pulled, causing him to go crashing.

But with him down for the moment, the other teens approached. Well, the girls did; Jaune was hanging back, but steadily approaching. This worried Neo, remembering once again those aura swings of his.

On a random note, he still held her hidden blade in his mouth.

As if reading her mind, he looked down to the blade and then spat it out – only to then kick it towards her with surprising accuracy, not to mention with a scary speed.

Her blade flipped through the air vertically and rather than risk catching it, Neo moved to the left to avoid it, not liking her chances of catching it successfully. This put her in the direct path of the hammer girl yet again and she spun around, firing a grenade while her weapon was in its hammer form. The grenade missed by a veritable mile (a few yards, actually, but same thing really), but the powerful recoil of the fired shot made the girl spun around that much faster.

Neo used her semblance to create another physical illusion of herself and used its fragile but still solid consistency to jump onto and then off of it, moving out of the girl's path as she effortlessly smashed through the illusion a split second later.

"Not this time!" the girl screamed in a mixture of anger, wild glee and exertion as she stomped the ground, forcing herself to slow and stop just long enough to then leap after her.

Her great strength propelled her towards Neo, who was still in midair, and prepared to swing. At the exact same time, she'd jumped, the redhead used her semblance to halt the thrown blade from a literal second ago to then redirect its flight path towards the criminal from behind her.

Neo's eyes actually widened now in genuine surprise. She hadn't seen that coming. But like hell she was just going to let herself get hit.

That said, not like she had many options here.

She opened up her umbrella and strengthened it with aura just as the girl swung with her hammer. The hit was ridiculously strong and knocked her to the ground with enough force to form a small crater, but Neo rolled with the hit and shrugged off the pain well enough to roll and get back on her feet.

On the bright side, she avoided getting hit by her own blade. Now that would've been embarrassing.

But now she was getting fed up with all this.

Now deciding to go on the offensive, she charged right at the incoming redhead, moving in a zig-zag pattern to avoid the gunfire the redhead then unleashed. As she neared, the redhead changed her weapon into what appeared to be an exceptionally long javelin and did a few whip-like motions with it, obviously a feint before then thrusting it at Neo.

Neo effortlessly dodged it and got really close, prompting the girl to bring up her shield, but Neo took advantage of this to grab the top edge of the shield, lift herself up a bit and then throw herself down and in between the girl's long legs. As she slid along the rough ground, Neo used the hilt of her umbrella to make a grab for the girl's right ankle, but the girl proved to have good enough instincts and reflexes to swiftly raise her foot before that could happen.

She then pivoted and tried kicking at Neo with the now raised leg, but Neo ducked and then raised her closed umbrella to ward off the follow-up strike from the redhead's weapon, which had been quickly changed back into that small sword form from earlier.

The redhead's strike failed but she used the momentum to carry herself forward and try bringing her shield down on her, but Neo slammed a palm into the bottom of it before the girl could fully move and as a result, the shield went upwards and hit her in the face.

Her current opponent let out quite a startled and pained cry, but rather than take what pleasure she could out of it, Neo instead felt nothing but goosebumps, especially when the girl made an obviously exaggerated stagger.

Neo threw herself into a long roll and just in the nick of time to avoid a sword swing that made that hammer girl's hits look weak in comparison.

Looks like that Jaune guy was finally getting involved again.

Just as she got back up and prepared to fight, the blond suddenly kicked at the ground and ended up literally breaking chunks of concrete right out of the ground and sent flying right at her.

All of the debris fell short of her current position, but it served as an excellent smokescreen, Neo realized. Also, there was a fair distance between her and him.

Taking this into account, she leapt yet again to the side and just in the nick of time as the blond came barreling through the veritable moving wall of rubble and swung vertically down, his sword practically pulsing with aura.

But rather than unleash a wave like he did before, the aura clearly gathered within the sword seemed to detonate when it made contact with the ground and created a powerful explosion that also made the grenades from that hammer girl look like firecrackers in comparison.

Neo was blown back and went crashing along the ground, no doubt losing a fair amount of aura in the process.

Contrary to what some would think upon looking at her, her aura reserves were exceptional, comparable to fully fledged huntsmen and huntresses along with her skill. So she wasn't too worried about how much aura she had left.

But if she took even one or two hits like that head-on…

As the three other teens now gathered near Jaune, all of them glaring at her as their battle came to a brief slowdown, Neo sighed silently.

Roman was going to owe her big time for this.

* * *

"Just what the hell is going on over there?" Yang spoke in obvious concern.

Not too far away from her was her partner, Blake looking equally worried. Kind of hard not to, seeing as there was clearly plenty of explosions and the like going off over in the far but still seeable distance. It didn't help either that she'd seen what looked like an old parking structure go down either.

"I… I don't know," Blake responded. "But whatever it is, we should keep going."

Yang looked at her in surprise. "You serious?! Whatever's going on, that's clearly gotta be where JNPR is at!"

"I know, but that obviously means Jaune is there too… so whatever's going on, he'll make sure his team and himself will make it out of there. Besides, they haven't called for help, so I'm sure they have things under control for the most part."

Blake's words, spoken without hesitation and with a quiet assurance, proved enough silence Yang for a few seconds.

"You… since when did you have so much faith in them?" Yang asked now in amazement. "I mean, don't get me wrong, they're all just as badass as we are, but…"

Blake hummed a little. "Like I said before, you would have had to have been at the docks to really understand. Whatever's happening won't be anywhere near enough to bring down Jaune. And of course, the others aren't slouches either. Besides, even if we do go to assist, I'm sure Jaune would just insist on us getting back to our search."

Yang could only remain silent again as the two of them watched from the rooftops for a moment longer.

True, she may not have been there at the docks, something that still ate away at her knowing how much danger her partner and her sister had been exposed to, but she and the others have also seen how banged up Jaune had been when he'd gotten back to Beacon not long after. Sure, he was all healed up now – shockingly fast, now that she thought of it – but it didn't change the fact he'd taken a lot of damage somehow.

So forgive her if she was really worried here.

Even so, seeing how much faith her partner had in the blond teen and his team was enough to keep her from continuing the argument.

Yang out a gruff sigh. "Alright, alright, you make a point there. I mean, now that I think about it, if they really are in a fight with someone and raising that much hell in the process, then it means we got the area right after all, I guess."

Blake smiled a little and nodded. "Right."

Yang sighed again. "Well, alright then. Come on; the sooner we find out where your former buddies and Torchwick are holing up at, the sooner we can kick some ass and then go back up JNPR."

Blake silently agreed with her and then took the lead, using her ribbons to swing towards another building off to the right.

Yang followed along right after by using Ember Celica to once again blast herself across the rooftops.

She did so with more than a little worry still eating at her, however; she just hoped that Blake's faith wasn't being misplaced here.

* * *

Even with how thick the walls are, Roman and the others at the base had heard the sounds of battle just moments ago. Though it had sounded far away, it had been more than enough to put them all on edge.

Well, except Roman, who merely sighed.

He'd been expecting as much, somehow. That said… that battle had been sounding pretty intense. Wouldn't surprise him if all the racket got the attention of the cops somehow. In which case, he definitely couldn't just sit around any longer waiting for this stupid diagnostic check to finish.

The battle was definitely too far away and too damned intense for it to be little red and her team fighting off the stupid grunts he'd assigned to watch after them. Therefore, it'd be Neo and that blond freak of nature along with his team.

Looks like Neo was giving them all as good as she got. But if they were packing enough firepower and personal strength for the battle to have been heard even from this distance then it was only a matter of time before things really went pear-shaped.

Combined with the previous thought, Roman knew he had to make a move.

Looks like now as was as good a time as any, he supposed.

"Alright, you lot, get a move on! You'll just get in the way!" he hollered as he gripped the handles within the paladin's cockpit and moved them, making said paladin move as well. All of the White Fang grunts that had gathered within the room to start breaking things down to relocate elsewhere now made a scramble to get out of the way as Roman maneuvered the Atlas robot towards the room's massive door. This room had once been meant to receive incoming loads via trucks and as such, it had a few large doors that they'd managed to get up and running for their own use. It was how they'd gotten the paladin into this room in the first place.

The first few steps he took were quite clumsy, but as he got a feel for things, the next few steps were done with much more grace, well as much grace as a giant robot could possibly have, that is.

"Open the door, then get clear for good," he commanded. "And get ready for a damn fight already!"

One of the grunts hit the button of the side of the wall that controlled the doors and the one Roman was standing directly in front of opened up.

He then lumbered outside and the door closed behind him a few seconds later.

Using the paladin's radar functions, he could tell the coast was clear, but with how shitty their collective luck clearly was, that would likely change soon enough.

Oh well, he thought. From the start, it was always best to just deal with any potential hassles before they kept pestering you. Granted, removing obstacles from the get-go wasn't always the most practical or easiest thing to do… but with how much trouble these damn brats have caused him within such a short time frame, it was time to make a fucking exception.

"Cinder is so going to owe me one for all this…" he mumbled.

With that quip now uttered, Roman piloted the paladin away from the base and into the heart of the abandoned district.

It was time for him to do the hunting.

* * *

 **In immediate hindsight, I hadn't been intending to make this chapter this long, but considering the lack of action and progression, this was actually for the better. So, I guess you can consider that an unintentional win since I'd initially planned to do this over the course of two chapters.**

 **Anyways, hope it doesn't seem as though Neo is underpowered or anything. I'm trying to portray her as being just as dangerous as she is during volume 2, it's just that she's going up against more than one person here. That, and Jaune is obviously much stronger than he is in canon to start with.**

 **On that note, don't think Jaune is going to effortlessly steamroll Neo or anything. Certainly, he has several advantages over her, but she's much more skilled than he is, it's just that he's as unrelenting as he's been in previous chapters and it's not something she's used to. So, expect a good fight now that they all have a feel for how the other side fights.**

 **And of course, Roman himself is now going to enter the fray soon and he has his own ideas on how to do things, obviously, heh. Try and think of this whole situation as replacing the rally/paladin fight in volume 2, by the way, just want to clarify that.**

 **Whelp, other than that, don't think there's anything that has to be addressed right now, but if you guys do have anything, ask away in either a review or a PM!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	16. Chapter 16

Been applying not only for jobs but also volunteer positions. And wouldn't you know it, but even most of the volunteer positions don't bother replying! Well, except for one, thankfully. Currently am in the process of (hopefully) being accepted so that I can finally gain some practical experience to beef up my resume.

That was one thing in particular I really should've done during high school and college, but sadly, I was one naïve dumbass. I have no one to blame but myself for taking so damn long to try correcting it, but I am definitely going to try. Wish me luck!

Now, onto the chapter!

Chapter 16

As he looked upon his team's current foe, Jaune calmly assessed the situation during this relatively calm moment.

Said foe, a short woman whose petite form belied her strength yet suited her agility, had surprised him somewhat by how well she'd been doing so far against his friends. Though Pyrrha, Nora and Ren were only first year students, they were all obviously talented and took things seriously. To so deftly hold the advantage against any of them much less all three was definitely not something the typical criminal would be able to do.

This fact combined with the woman's rather colorful appearance only confirmed in his mind that she was working for or with Roman Torchwick. That meant they'd been on the right track, more or less, which filled him with some minor amount of relief – he'd worried their search would drag out too much to be practical.

But his relief was tempered by the woman's threat level. Not only had she held her own more than well enough against his team, she'd even proved to be good enough to respond to his own moves.

However, to be fair to himself, it wasn't as if he'd been going all out. Indeed, if he had done just that, there'd be a lot more collateral damage… not to mention casualties – to use all his available might would, after all, put his friends at risk due to their sheer proximity. That he'd been able to cut loose just enough to _only_ result in the destruction of that parking structure was a genuine miracle in his eyes.

Alas, it wouldn't be enough. He may have the advantage in strength and overall speed, but the woman was much more flexible and agile and certainly more skilled than most others that he's gone up against. Combined with her acrobatic way of fighting and impressive use of that umbrella, it was something of a challenge for him to adjust to her moves.

"…" Once more, he made a sound that not even he himself could fully identify. But it was enough to make his own friends tense up a bit while the woman readied her umbrella, her slender but toned legs shifting, no doubt ready to respond to whatever he may do next.

But even then, the woman now wore an almost challenging smirk on her face. Despite how she clearly prepared to move at a moment's notice, she didn't seem too interested in actually moving just yet.

Did she, perhaps, expect him or his friends to start trying to talk her into surrendering? Into giving up the location of her allies?

It was most likely – he's encountered more than a few people who just loved to talk during battle for one reason or another, though usually as a way to try and distract him. And of course, said attempts always failed.

He wasn't sure what this woman was intending to do by buying time, assuming that was even her motive here, but he wasn't about to grant it.

Putting on a sudden burst of speed, Jaune practically flew towards the young woman, whose eyes widened in shock at his sudden approach. He wasn't going particularly faster than before, so it looks as if his guess just now was on point.

He could see her now begin to leap back to open up some distance between them, but then the woman looked confused in mid-action as she noticed his own leap falling a bit short.

Ah, but of course, his leap wasn't a full one. After all, he hadn't been intending to try hitting her directly just yet.

First, he intended to distract her a bit.

He stabbed his right sword into the ground at an angle and then with a grunt, cleaved forward. The result was a solid portion of the ground being literally ripped out and thrown at the woman. Then with his left sword, he swung twice and cut several of the pieces of flying debris into smaller pieces so that the spread would go further out.

Even with the veritable roar generated by this action, he was still able to listen closely for whatever response the woman would have. And sure enough, he could hear her just barely gasp followed by the sound of her footwear clopping against asphalt.

Using this to essentially pinpoint her, Jaune then put on a much greater burst of speed and circled around, tracking the woman as best as he could.

The woman had tried moving as far as she could to her left to avoid the debris and he nearly met her head-on. Seeing him up close and personal for the second time certainly seemed to scare her to some extent, but not enough to dull her reflexes as much as he'd hoped, for when he tried stomping on her left foot, she reeled it back right before impact and then did a flip to avoid his follow up swing.

Now that he was putting in noticeably more strength, however, his swing still managed to blow her away, though not enough to impede him much.

Performing a spin, Jaune traveled right after her and swung his blades several times in rapid succession. Just like before, she managed to recover and continue her dodging, but as she did so he made sure to pay even more attention to how her body moved.

The way she twisted at her thin waist. The way she pivoted on her toes. The way her muscles tensed and moved within her legs. The way she kept her arms and umbrella close to her body in case she needed to truly guard. He studied all this with an intense yet ultimately clinical gaze.

Alright, he thought. He got it now.

After she dodged his brief assault, he took a half-step forward before launching a new wave of attacks. He swung first with his right sword horizontally, forcing her to bend as if trying to do the limbo. Then, putting on a burst of speed again, he used the same leg he'd done a half-step with to suddenly lash out and kick her directly in between the legs.

Man or woman, a kick down there hurts like hell. And as his boot made contact, he could tell by how her expression almost comically contorted that, yes, his kick especially hurt.

It launched her through the air at breakneck speeds, great enough to create a small sonic boom that certainly grabbed the attention of his teammates, who were having a bit of trouble following his and the woman's speed just now.

As she flew through the air, he jumped right after her and kicked downwards with his left foot, aiming for her stomach. She just barely maneuvered her umbrella so that it guarded against his attack, but even then, his attack sent her spiraling towards the ground and she hit it hard. And unlike Nora's attack earlier, the girl wasn't able to roll with it.

"J-Jaune, wait-!" he heard Pyrrha call out. However, he didn't give his redheaded teammate time to finish whatever she'd been about to say, for he then twisted himself in mid-air so that he started going into a spin, a spin that was further accelerated by the perfectly vertical swings of his swords.

He went downwards at a high speed towards the woman and he lashed out with both swords, fully intending on finishing this fight here and now.

But to his surprise, in this moment of what was clearly desperation on her part, the woman formed some kind of physical illusion before his very eyes, a perfect copy of herself that took her place and was immediately shattered under his might while the real one grabbed onto the ground and hurled herself away.

Undeterred, however, upon landing, Jaune simply concentrated his aura into both arms. Unlike back during initiation, where doing this had put an immense and terrible strain on his attacking arm to the point of broken bones, torn muscles and internal bleeding, the training and recovery he's done since then has strengthened his body considerably, especially after healing from the wounds suffered at the docks.

As such, focusing only this much aura into his arms and swords didn't take a toll on him this time and he took advantage of his increased robustness to promptly swing his blades horizontally and unleashing waves of pure aura at his target.

Compared to the one that destroyed the parking structure, these two swings were noticeably weaker yet still packed plenty of power, exploding with such force upon hitting the ground near the woman that simply being near the epicenter of the explosions was enough to take a visible toll on her remaining aura.

Even so, she used the momentum to get back on her feet and assume a combative stance. The look in her eyes has changed now and it was just enough to make him not immediately follow up.

A second lull in the action now occurred and Jaune once more assessed the situation.

And as he did so, his teammates finally ran up to him.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out his name with a certain sense of alarm. "J-Just what are you doing?!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, his gaze never leaving the woman, who remained where she now stood.

"Those attacks just now… if they'd struck her head-on, it would've hurt her severely! Maybe even have killed her!"

At those words, he spared Pyrrha a quick glance. The redhead looked appalled, upset even. Another quick glance to Nora and Ren who hung back just a bit confirmed that Pyrrha wasn't the only one taken aback by his actions.

And in the face of such words, Jaune could only remain silent, at least for a moment. "I know," he eventually said. "That… that was the general intention."

Indeed, it was. Once again, his instincts for this kind of thing were spot-on. True, this woman clearly didn't want to keep on fighting him if it could be helped, but that didn't mean she was going to just completely change her way of life.

He could just tell – this was a woman who, much like Roman, wasn't going to stop being a criminal. She would never stop hurting others if it meant getting what she wanted, even if that was simply a bit of entertainment.

Moreover, she clearly wasn't going to give up Roman nor the White Fang. Whether that was out of a genuine sense of comradery or something much more detached yet pragmatic, he couldn't tell… but looking at things from an equally pragmatic perspective, there wasn't really a need to question her. Combined with her lack of remorse for how she hurt others and committed crime, there wasn't a good reason for him to _not_ strike with the intent to kill.

Alas, he didn't say any of this. He felt he didn't have to. To him, it was obvious. And he was hoping his friends, no matter their feelings, would at least understand this much.

But it didn't seem like they did.

"Why?" Pyrrha demanded even as she too kept an eye on the unknown woman. "Jaune, we can't just go around doing things like that! As aspiring trainees, we're supposed to be better than that!"

Jaune blinked. Then he turned back to her, looking and feeling completely perplexed.

Can't just…? Was Pyrrha not aware of what duties huntsmen and huntresses had? The extent of what must be done at times?

He was boggled, truly, he was.

But not so boggled as to leave himself open – the woman, having sensed some conflict brewing here between them, had tried to make a move, but the very instant she shifted her posture, Jaune cleaved forward with a swing so powerful that the resulting move created a small vortex just like before. Its sudden appearance was enough to throw the woman off, even drag her a little closer and he used this chance to jump forward and go on the attack yet again.

"No!" Pyrrha cried out.

"…?" He made a slow sound of bewilderment when he felt a certain tug on his blades, especially his left one just as he swung it down.

Having moved even faster than before, he'd been certain that this swing would truly find its mark, would put this enemy down before she could potentially escape and eventually commit even more evil deeds.

But instead, as he felt Pyrrha work her semblance over his swords, his swing was slowed ever so lightly. The surprise he felt at this very instant was just strong enough to prevent him from fully powering through her semblance and so he ended up unable to correct his swinging speed in time.

The woman had managed to regain her balance and move to the side a bit and then thrust her closed umbrella right into his chest. Given his current position in the air, he was unable to simply charge through it and so he was knocked back.

However, he was able to land on his feet not even a few feet away and simply went on the attack again.

The woman used her semblance to make a copy of herself whilst also disguising herself by blending into the background. Truly, her semblance was a dangerous one. But alas, the few times she's used it so far in this battle had been all Jaune needed to see to 'adjust' to how it worked.

And so, it would work on him no longer.

Even as Pyrrha still tried to slow his swings down and with Nora and Ren swiftly approaching him, Jaune powered through her semblance and cut through the physical illusion as though it wasn't even there. Before the illusion could even begin to shatter as a result, he was already following up his swing with another horizontal slash, this one practically tracking the unknown woman as though locked onto her like a missile.

Except Jaune was no missile. It's just that he's finally gotten used to how she tended to move and think during battle. As such, predicting how she'd move and where to wasn't too hard a thing for him to do now.

The woman's eyes widened as his blade neared her and she ceased in her running to now jump back as quickly as she could. Even then, his attack would land. Her aura shall be shattered and in all likelihood she'd lose an arm too.

Except, just like with Pyrrha, his friends chose to intervene. Nora somehow managed to close the distance between them and grab onto him and tug just enough to skew his aim just as the woman raised her weapon to guard.

The result was that he ended up cutting through the entirety of her umbrella at an upwards angle. And just as he did so, he channeled some aura through his arm and to his blade, unleashing a small wave of aura that crashed into the woman at virtually point-blank range.

Even as Nora successfully managed to drag him back, the following explosion certainly depleted the woman's remaining aura as it launched her across the street.

He would've immediately given chase as the woman managed to expertly roll and end up back on her feet, but by this point, Ren and Pyrrha had also caught up with him and together, the three of them practically held him back just long enough for the woman, her gaze now wild and truly afraid, made a run for it.

"…"

He could've easily broken out of his friends' tight and desperate grasp, but to do that would likely hurt him and he's vowed to never do so. As such, he reluctantly allowed himself to be held down for the moment.

And all the while, he merely thought about what to do next.

Most likely, that woman will go back to Roman and inform him of what happened. Given how pragmatic the thief is, he'll likely have those under his command start packing things up and try leaving to yet another location… but to do that in a hurry would certainly make a lot of noise.

And in an abandoned place like this, that would stand out. So, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.

This thought was enough to allow some of the tension he felt now bleed away… but the same couldn't be said of his friends' naturally wild emotions right now.

"Jaune?!" Pyrrha looked at him with something akin to horror, but there was also a sense of hurt and betrayal there too. The same could be said of Nora and Ren as they all let go of him after a moment. "Just why would you try doing that?!"

In the face of their emotional states, Jaune inwardly winced. Having gotten caught up in the moment yet again, he'd ignored how most people tended to react to things like this.

Back at the docks, things hadn't become tense between him and the others primarily because they'd been occupied fighting the White Fang so they hadn't been there to see him attempt to permanently put Roman down.

The same naturally couldn't be said for right now.

"I…" he began, suddenly unsure of himself.

But Pyrrha didn't give him a chance to keep talking. "You attempted to kill that woman! Yes, she may very well be a criminal and yes, she may have attacked first… but even then! That doesn't give any of us a right to retaliate like that! We're trying to be huntsmen and huntresses! There are lines not meant to be crossed, no matter what!"

"Yeah!" Nora chipped in, looking positively upset. "Operating by that whole 'eye for an eye' thing could never work out!" She said this with an intensity unlike anything she's demonstrated before, looking truly angry. Given what she and Ren have told him and Pyrrha about their past, it seemed they've seen their share of darker things humanity can do. They've seen this and clearly disagreed with it.

He turned away from the two girls, however, to look at Ren, who looked as if he had something to say but couldn't bring himself to actually do so.

As he looked into his fellow male's eyes, he could see a war of emotions within him. There was shock and hurt there, just like with Pyrrha and Nora, but something more.

Not quite understanding, but close enough. Yet even so, it was obvious by expression alone that the raven-haired teen didn't approve.

Jaune then looked away for a second, peering quickly in the direction the woman had run off in. With every second that passed, that was an advantage the woman and Roman could exploit to get away. The tension he felt from before was now returning.

They had to move. Now.

But even so, he couldn't just let this stand.

"…It's a wonderful thing, to have such standards," he began neutrally, careful to not speak too quickly. To let his tension show would only lead to bad things. "But it's not realistic. There's nothing wrong with having ideals and doing one's best living up to them, but there will be times where huntsmen and huntresses will be left with no choice but to deal with those that the law would be unable to do anything about. Killing… it's not something I like to do, you know. It's not something I'd ever be comfortable doing, but to let the likes of Roman Torchwick, this mystery woman and the more fanatical members of the White Fang continue to run wild would only endanger the innocent… and that, more than even the act of killing, is something I absolutely cannot _stand for._ "

He looked them in the eyes slowly as he said this. Obviously, this wasn't going to make them change their minds, let alone even really placate them. Life didn't work that way – one couldn't simply bend the will of others in a single minute.

There will be further discussion, even outright argument, about what had just happened later. Of this, he had no doubts. And when that time came, he'd welcome it gladly.

But his words were able to at least pierce through the fog of emotion that had overcome them and while they still clearly didn't approve, he could tell that they understood a little bit. His friends along with many others back at Beacon were quite idealistic, even the likes of Weiss and Blake albeit to a lesser extent, but they weren't so idealistic as to be naïve. They knew the world was not so simple a place to live in.

"…Come on," he said as his friends took a collective step back. "We still have much to do."

When he turned and started to run at a brisk pace in the general direction the woman had gone in, there was a slight delay before his friends followed.

It was a good thing they couldn't see his face, for if they could, they'd have seen the slight hurt in his expression now.

* * *

Weiss had continued her trek at a decent pace. Admittedly, there'd been a bit of a lag at first – even after having reconfirmed her resolve, the sight of so filthy and horrid a place this area was had made her almost physically nauseous. But she'd been able to sort of just… tune out all the grunge and filth and squalor enough to keep on going, even if the sight of some things that definitely didn't look like simple litter gave her some slight pause every now and then.

And now, as she continued to explore the more open streets as she went further east, she began to slow down a bit, her white hair whipping around from the chilly breeze that now ran through the district.

She now came to a brief stop in order to catch her breath; she's been using her semblance continuously to speed through the area and the constant usage of her glyphs was beginning to tax her.

But there was another reason for her stopping – she'd come to the realization someone was following her.

Not at a particularly fast pace or anything, but consistently enough. As her mind went into overdrive, she began to estimate just when exactly this unknown person had been stalking after her and the implications that they might have been doing so ever since the very beginning rankled her considerably. It just went to show how much more she had to learn about being a top-notch huntress.

However, this was also something of a good thing(?) for her. It meant that she might be on the right track, a thought that was further reinforced by what had seemed like the sounds of explosions not so long ago.

So, trying not to appear like she was in the know (a hard thing to do for her, who liked her intelligence being known), she decided to go for a stroll rather than the mad dashing she's been doing, appearing for all the world as if she was merely taking things easy in order to preserve her power.

As she did so, she made sure to listen keenly for any signs of the person still following her and sure enough, if she focused just hard enough, she could hear the slight pitter-patter of feet against the hard asphalt along with the occasional crunch of something – old cans, rotten snacks, needles and more – being broken underfoot.

Also, there was a bit of panting too here and there. Looks like whoever was following her – a man, by the sounds of it – had had more than a little trouble keeping up with her speed, a possibility that filled her with a bit of pride…

…Or so she was desperately hoping – the alternative was that the man was a pervert stalking after her for _other_ reasons than what she's initially assumed. This was a possibility her mind refused to entertain for long, but alas, it did and she had to do her best to not shudder.

Nonetheless, she retained her composure and began to lead the follower on a brief walk through the area before eventually turning down a nearby alleyway.

Doing so, she intentionally made her short strides even shorter and stepped with an increasing lightness as to trick her follower into thinking she was picking up her walking pace and was thusly getting further away from them.

And sure enough, just as she'd hoped, the follower picked up their own pace, ready to give chase yet again – and as this person, a man just as she'd thought, rounded the corner and into the alleyway, he nearly walked right into the tip of Myrtenaster, which she'd silently drawn.

The man, a Faunus and a bum by the looks of it, let out a sound of surprise and as he did so, the ragged clothe he wore over his body lifted just enough to reveal what was underneath. He was mercifully clothed, sparing Weiss what would've otherwise been a horrible sight… but in doing so, it exposed an all too familiar outfit underneath what was obviously a disguise.

A White Fang uniform.

Weiss' icy blue eyes narrowed and she immediately acted, With a flick of her left wrist, she whipped Myrtenaster around and swatted the White Fang grunt right in the cheek, her weapon's flexible yet solid blade hitting like an actual whip and drawing a loud cry of pain from him.

The man staggered to his left and the heiress did a half-circle to her own left so that the man was now right up against the wall while she occupied the spot he'd just been in.

She expertly maneuvered her weapon back into its former spot, which is to say that it was once more aimed directly at his face, just inches away, in fact.

Despite her having the obvious advantage, once the man recovered, he certainly wasted no time glaring hatefully at her. "You bitc-!"

She merely poked him lightly right under his nose with the tip of her blade. That was all it took to get him to shut up, though it helped too that Weiss was levelling her own glare at him.

Blake was one thing – after all, the former White Fang member had proven herself quickly to be a loyal and caring friend. But current members of the White Fang, which obviously still held a great deal of hatred towards the Schnee family and by extension, her? Obviously, she wasn't going to be too forgiving of that.

"I will be the one to speak," she stated, no, more like commanded.

Off in the distance, what sounded like rumbling reached her ears. Looks like the fighting from earlier had resumed. It was getting a bit closer too, so she was going to have to hurry this along a bit.

"Tell me and I'll only knock you out," she threatened. "Where is your current base at?"

"Go fuck yourself, Schnee!" the White Fang grunt roared at her.

Weiss was unimpressed. To express this, she poked him just a bit harder than before with Myrtenaster. Given that every White Fang member has their aura unlocked, she could afford to not worry too much about drawing blood. "Are you really in a position to be insulting me? Now, where. Is. Your. Base?"

The man just growled.

The rumbling got a little closer.

Weiss sighed. "You've been following me for quite some time. Given my speed, that's almost commendable, but that's beside the point. You've likely been following me long enough to know that I'm not here alone. So, now that you're reminded of this fact, do you truly think your bravado is going to do you or your allies any good?"

"Feh, it's you and your little buddies up against a group easily a dozen times your size! You really think you got what it takes to beat us?!" the grunt yelled angrily.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Weiss shrugged non-committedly. But then she smirked just a bit. "But if nothing else, thanks for confirming the size of your group. That will be helpful."

The grunt now took the next few seconds to look positively shocked by his own stupidity. Weiss found a fair bit of amusement in this. Thanks to Blake and Tukson, she came to understand that, yes, the White Fang wasn't inherently evil… but it still didn't change the fact they're terrorists that have tormented who knows how many people over the years, especially her family in particular.

So, yeah, Weiss wasn't going to just let go of her hatred of the White Fang that quickly or easily.

She made a show of rotating her weapon's Dust chamber, setting it to the fire Dust. Of course, this was all just a bluff on her part – no matter what vendetta she may have against the White Fang as a whole, she'd never stoop to such a low level for any form of revenge – but this grunt didn't know that, now, did he? With any luck, this action plus a little spoken threat or two will help loosen his tongue some more.

And if that failed, then, well, she was going to have to figure that out.

"You're clearly not the brightest of the bunch," Weiss said with a huff. "I can only imagine how many poor decisions you make regularly. But if you tell me where your current base is located, then turn yourself in afterwards, I can assure you that you'd be just one step closer to changing that habit of yours."

As she was speaking, the rumbling was getting closer and closer. And as she finished uttering her words, her features morphed into a deep frown. The rumbling sounded too slow and methodical to be the results of a fight.

The now distracted look on the grunt's face indicated he had no idea what was going on either.

But then, the rumbling got even closer and now she could hear something else accompanying it – a faint whirring sound, like something she's often heard when the SDC's robots were up and about.

And at that particular thought, her eyebrows shot up as a terrible follow-up thought occurred to her.

She turned around and looked towards the alleyway's opening, where the street was at. So did her current captive, who had also been fully distracted by the noise.

The two of them, Schnee and Faunus, did so just as something huge came lumbering around the corner and seemed to look directly at them.

Weiss could only gape now.

Th-that was Atlas technology! She'd recognize it anywhere!

"Well now, isn't this a surprise?" came a voice from within the giant robot's cockpit. "Looks like my luck is finally turning around a bit~. Oh, and would you look at that – weapons are finally online!"

The giant robot – no, a mecha, really – raised its right arm and pointed it directly at her and the White Fang grunt.

Weiss hardly had a chance to fully comprehend what was going on when four missiles suddenly fired right at her.

* * *

Ruby wasn't oblivious to the sounds of fighting going on earlier when she'd been moving around. More than anything, she'd wanted to circle back and see what was going on, but her ever growing trust and faith in her friends had kept her from doing just that.

They were okay, she'd reasoned. They had to be. If they weren't, then they would've called her and the others right from the start.

It had been this that had kept her going, albeit with a bit more speed than before, a form of desperation at finding Torchwick and the White Fang and taking them down before things can escalate.

But just now, the all too familiar sound of missiles being fired and exploding upon impact – as a weapons geek, she knew her weapons pretty much inside and out – and she knew at that very instant that something has changed in the situation.

It wasn't a good change. She could just tell.

So, she'd skidded to a stop as quickly as she could, an action that caused the nearest walls to be blown apart from the sheer wind pressure her speed had generated, and she kicked off the ground and traveled to where the missiles had impacted.

She was fast, both with and without her semblance. And now that she's gotten a bit of a feel for how these alleyways twist and turn, she was able to really speed up now.

But as fast as she was now moving, the sounds of missiles and even more – was that a chain gun she was hearing now?! – continued without pause.

This was then followed up by the now equally familiar sound of ice Dust being used and on a large scale. And the only person she knew of who could use Dust on such a large scale was…

"Weiss!" Ruby cried out in worry as she practically flew over the short building directly ahead of her and landed in the middle of a large and really nasty looking street.

Her inner child – though the 'inner' part was debatable according to Yang – was practically retching at how nasty it all looked, but she didn't let that slow her down one bit and she shot down the street at literally hypersonic speeds.

Making a left on the next street, she could see the explosions now occurring the next block over, buildings visibly shaking from the impacts of whatever was now going on.

Worry growing, Ruby made another turn – and nearly plowed right into Weiss.

"W-Wah! Weiss, are you okay?!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise.

Normally, nearly crashing into one another like this would've gotten the heiress to lightly scold her, but this time around, Weiss just looked straight up relieved to see her.

"Ruby, we need to hurry and regroup with the others!" she proclaimed before practically grabbing her by the hood and pulled her away.

Ruby hardly had the chance to ask what was going on, for she got her answer before she could even utter a syllable.

"Hey, little red! Miss me?!" cried out the voice of Roman Torchwick from within what had to be the coolest looking mech Ruby had ever seen as it rounded the corner from where Weiss came.

Of course, the cool factor was offset epically by the fact Roman was piloting it. Oh, and the fact it was now firing more missiles at them.

Breaking free of Weiss' grip, Ruby barked out an order. "Bank right!" The two of them did just that, Ruby taking the lead as they ran right through the busted down door of the nearest building.

Of course, this didn't stop the missiles from blowing it to smithereens, but with their speed, the two partners easily got clear of the building before it could fully collapse.

Moreover, they now had some cover in the form of all the debris and dust.

Unfortunately, before they could do anything else, Roman proceeded to fire that chain gun that the other arm of the mech had and pretty much whittled down the other nearby buildings to scraps.

So much for cover. But at least, all the dust and stuff served to camouflage them a bit.

Ruby wasn't exactly looking forward to trying close range combat with that thing, so instead she kept her precious baby in its compact form while firing at the mech, the size of which was clearly visible to her even through this veritable fog of dust and debris.

She could hear her bullets hit their marks, even briefly see the sparks as said bullets scratched the mech, but that was all it ultimately did – just literal scratch damage.

She could hear Roman laugh over the speaker the mech seemed to have. "Gotta say, should've known you would be coming! Too bad I came prepared this time!"

He then activated something. No idea what it was, but the next thing she knew, all the dust got blown away – exposing her and Weiss to the mech and vice versa.

Her silver eyes widened in shock just as Roman wasted no time firing that chain gun again. And even with aura, there was no way she going to be able to withstand that hail of gunfire.

She and Weiss made a mad run to the side, Weiss forming those acceleration glyphs to further speed themselves up as the mech's aim proved to be fairly quick to follow.

"What even is that thing?!" Ruby howled over the near-deafening gunfire.

"A paladin!" Weiss answered. "I heard from father once before – it's supposed to be a new weapon the Atlas military was working on to combat the larger and tougher Grimm!"

Man, all that firepower just to kill Grimm? The Atlas military was hardcore!

She'd admire their love for big guns and all that, but considering those big guns were aimed at her and Weiss, Ruby could only feel terror.

A few seconds later, the gunfire ceased, allowing her and her partner a moment to pause and breathe. This paladin may be able to keep track of their speed somewhat, but it obviously had a limit to how well it could fire from a certain range. Combined with its fairly slow moving speed, it looks like they'd gotten clear of it for now.

"Okay! Any idea on how to fight that thing?!" Ruby asked in between quick gasps for air.

Weiss shook her head. "I don't know, I just knew it was being made! I'm just shocked the White Fang and Torchwick were able to get their hands on a prototype!"

Sheesh, that's a prototype?! Ruby could only imagine how scary the real deal would be!

But alright, no biggie (this was a lie), she's gone up against crazier odds before (another bold lie). She just had to figure things out for a second.

Let's see, usually against something that big, it was always best to target the joints or fire a concentrated attack against a single spot until it pierces through. Getting close enough to do the former though would be tough and super risky without backup though and as for the latter…

Ruby really wished Blake and Yang were here right now. Sure, they had to be on their way right now, what with all the noise this just caused, but whenever fighting for one's life, time always seemed to pass by super slow.

Deprived of a fair few options, she only had Weiss' support.

But her partner was strong. Under the right circumstances, that should be more than enough.

"Weiss, think you can make some glyphs?" she asked as the mech – the paladin – neared.

"What are you thinking?" the heiress asked in return.

Ruby switched Cresecent Rose into its scythe form, where its capabilities as a sniper rifle were much more apparent. "Let's see if we can crack its armor!"

Weiss glanced at her baby before nodding in understanding.

"Not running away, huh?! If nothing else, little red, you're gutsy," Roman called out as the paladin now actually ran right at them. It was definitely moving faster than is comfortable with her, but thankfully it was still pretty slow as befitting a mech.

He wasn't using that chain gun or the missiles or any other weapons it likely had – probably thought it wasn't needed what with them being right out in the open.

This worked immensely to their advantage as Ruby took aim, Weiss forming three of her acceleration glyphs directly in front of Crescent Rose's barrel.

Bracing herself for the recoil, Ruby fired five times in rapid succession. The bullets passed through the glyphs, gaining an immense speed boost as they rocketed towards the paladin.

She'd done her best to aim for the joints, but with how wildly the paladin was moving its limbs as it ran, aiming was hard. As a result, her shots were off their marks a bit and struck the paladin's upper arms and torso area.

The sheer force behind the bullets was immense, enough to actually stop and stagger the massive mech in its tracks, even damage it – but just not enough. It made some small dents, but that was about it.

The feeling of triump Ruby had felt at first was quick to die upon realizing this. "Oh… darn," she quipped.

Roman laughed. "Come on, red – this thing is meant to take on the toughest of Death Stalkers and the largest of Ursas. You really think your damned weapon was going to win?"

He didn't wait for an answer, however, instead just firing a few missiles with one arm while firing the chain gun function of the other arm.

He aimed with the latter at their flanks, hoping to keep them from moving much from their current spot that the missiles were aiming for. Ruby and Weiss knew this, so rather than try making a risky run for it, the latter switched to fire Dust and then took aim at the missiles.

Firing a blast of the fire Dust, it struck the tip of the center missile, making it explode and in doing so it triggered the other missiles, which now exploded too.

But all the while, Roman kept on moving towards them.

The paladin was now dangerously close and the two were left with no choice but to run directly away from it. The paladin fired its chain gun as it ran but doing so really skewed its aim. While this was a good thing in that their flanks were now somewhat open, the sporadic gunfire now kept them pretty much on their toes, so they were too focused on not getting hit to really bother suddenly changing direction.

"Gah! What is taking the others so long to come here?!" Weiss nearly screeched, though her words were just barely heard over the roar of gunfire.

"We just need to hold on for another minute or so! Gotta remember how large an area we all went our own ways to search!" Ruby yelled back.

However, she was in complete agreement with her partner. Seriously, just how much ground did Blake and Yang cover?!

But this was no time to whine – they had to take action and fast! While Roman here keeps them on the run, the White Fang back wherever they're at must be getting ready to make a run for it yet again and that was one thing they couldn't let happen!

Suddenly, there was a scream and it took Ruby a second to realize it was herself doing the screaming – Roman had launched a missile amidst all the gunfire and it nearly struck her dead-on. Instead, it had hit a spot just a foot behind her and the sheer power behind it was enough to send her flying forward. Weiss wasn't spared either.

Even though they hadn't been exactly at ground zero of the blast, there wasn't a doubt in Ruby's mind that they'd just lost a good amount of aura from that explosion. That paladin really was built to take on the Grimm!

But she wasn't going to just keep on running!

Practically growling – which sounded more cute than intimidating, not that she knew this – Ruby flipped around in midair and fired Crescent Rose in the opposite direction. The recoil was enough to launch her… right towards Roman.

The man seemed to stop laughing upon seeing her coming and as she managed to get past the continuous gunfire miraculously without a scratch, she fired Crescent Rose again just as she unveiled its scythe form, using the recoil to boost her momentum and launch an attack.

Unfortunately, her downwards swing didn't do much damage to the paladin. Certainly, it was better than the bullets from earlier, but it still did scratch damage. She was going to need a lot more momentum to pull that off.

"Tch! You sure are a stubborn one, red!" Roman cried out, mildly annoyed. The paladin then started to move suddenly, clearly with the intent of shaking her off violently.

Ruby managed to pull Crescent Rose free from the spot she'd struck at and Weiss, now up, used that black glyph of hers to pull her away before the paladin could really succeed in its current action.

"That does it!" Weiss yelled. "No more running! It's not getting us anywhere with this thing and that thug!" She readied Myrtenaster, rotating the cylinder so that the lightning Dust was now equipped.

Landing next to Weiss, Ruby took up a stance with Crescent Rose, smiling now. "I couldn't agree more!"

Roman, now coming to a stop with the paladin, just laughed. "A thug, huh? Guess I can't deny that too much – I bet all criminals look the same to you, ice queen. But I think you meant to say 'thugs.' Don't you agree, Neo?"

"Wha-?" Weiss began, only for someone to cut her off by way of Myrtenaster suddenly being slapped out of her hands followed by Weiss herself getting swept off her feet and thrown into Ruby.

Totally unprepared for what just happened, the two went crashing to the ground and Ruby looked up just in time to see a short woman that definitely hadn't been there before, looking down on them both literally and figuratively. There was something else there within those different colored eyes of hers, Ruby unconsciously realized, probably fear or at least something along those lines.

Of course, she didn't let her pondering slow her down and tried to get up – but this new arrival had the advantage of already being in a position to strike and so the woman poked Ruby hard in the chest with what appeared to be an umbrella.

"Ah ah ah, afraid not, little red," Roman called out from within the paladin. It lumbered forth now, some additional parts of the mech opening to reveal even more missiles. "Did you really think this paladin was the only surprise? Anyways, nice timing there, Neo. Now just keep them pinned for a second longer so I can lock on."

Ruby's eyes widened. Was Roman seriously going to fire all those missiles at her and Weiss?!

The woman – Neo – looked ahead of her, as if looking for someone, and then let out a quiet sigh of relief. This simple action was something Ruby tried to take advantage of, with Weiss also trying to get up too, but it was over and done with before the two of them could make any substantial move and Neo stomped a foot on top of Weiss' back, pressing the heiress hard against Ruby too.

For a split second, as she saw Roman bring the paladin's weapons to bear, Ruby thought in fear this might actually be the end… only for a battle cry to echo throughout the street followed immediately by several very familiar shotgun blasts being aimed at both Neo and the paladin.

"Ruby, Weiss!" cried out Yang as she came from seemingly out of nowhere, firing rapidly with Ember Celica, her blonde hair ablaze.

The paladin was unfazed for the most part, though some of Yang's blasts did detonate some of the missiles within the paladin's compartments, drawing some rather nasty words out of Roman. As for the Neo woman, the blasts were enough to get her to back off, giving Ruby and Weiss some space now.

The two wasted no time scrambling back to their feet just as Blake now entered the fray too, using the ribbon on one of her weapons to nearly slice at Neo's torso from a safe distance, further forcing the woman back.

Now back on their feet, Ruby smiled in pure relief as the B and Y of team RWBY now stood beside her and Weiss, and then a second later the four of them all turned to glare in unison at the paladin and the woman, who now moved further back so that the paladin was acting as one large shield for her.

Roman sighed. "Yeah, I really should've seen that coming – you four little shits against us."

"Make that eight," the voice of Jaune called out as he and his team now emerged from a ruin side street close to where team RWBY was currently at.

The blond leader and the others now moved directly next to RWBY, with Jaune in particular stepping forth so that he was near Ruby.

"You okay?" he asked.

"As good as can be now," Ruby said with a smile still, grateful for his presence. Surely, with both teams gathered, they could take this crazy mech dow-!

Roman sighed yet again, cutting off her thought process. "Figured you'd still be standing… sorry for sending you against him, Neo." The woman in question grimaced silently in response to his words. "But don't worry. Now let's see you brats try dealing with this!"

The missiles Yang's attacks hadn't detonated were still very much active. And now they were being fired.

Virtually all of the teens readied themselves, prepared to dodge in response.

Except they didn't; the missiles weren't aimed anywhere near them. They just… they just went far off into the sky, traveling right overhead.

But where-?

"…The other district!" Jaune then said, the blond teen's eyes widening for the first time in genuine shock.

His words were enough to get them all to just sort of freeze for a split second in shock and horror.

The area they'd initially passed through, where that lady Patrice and who knows how many others lived…!

As they all looked on in horror at the rapidly traveling missiles, Roman laughed darkly.

"So," he began viciously. "What're you gonna do now?"

* * *

 **As you can tell, even the paladin got quite the upgrade from canon. Or rather, it's now been made as tough as it SHOULD have been in the show itself. I mean, seriously, it was explicitly made to combat the Grimm. If it can be destroyed by a first-year team of huntresses, then that's a huge waste of time and resources. Sure, the one in volume 2 had likely been not as advanced as the ones that popped up in volume 3 plus RWBY and the others had the advantage of being able to think and plan on how to fight it, whereas the Grimm don't, but still. The paladin had felt very underwhelming. So, I intend to correct this.**

 **Of course, in addition to the threat the paladin itself will pose in the next chapter, there's now also the missiles it had fired towards the nearest residential area. How will that turn out, I honestly can't say without spoiling… but as always, I will intend to make things as entertaining as can be.**

 **On another note, sorry if this feels like it's dragging out. I know I said in the very first few chapters that this fic will be something of a slow-burner and whatnot, but not even I had expected the pacing to end up like this despite my own efforts. Granted, I could have probably put in the entirety of the paladin event in this chapter, but that would've been extremely and needlessly long. But don't worry, once this is over and done with, Cinder and other forces will be taking more active roles to move things along quickly enough.**

 **Hope you guys understand.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	17. Chapter 17

A lot of you certainly didn't like NPR preventing Jaune from killing Neo, I see. Certainly, it was a bad move on their part considering Neo's personality and actions. However, while Pyrrha is certainly naïve, Ren and Nora do have their reasons, reasons that will be explained soon enough. Now, whether or not said reasons are justified is entirely up to you guys. That said, please note they're not actually taking Pyrrha's side per say but rather that they're all 'on the same side' simply because that's just how things worked out.

On another note, even if Jaune had been able to kill Neo, this wouldn't have prevented the missiles from being fired at the residential area – that was always going to be Roman's response to seeing Jaune again.

That all said, glad that the last chapter provoked such a response! And with any luck, this chapter should do the same, but hopefully for the better.

Now, let's begin!

Chapter 17

Roman knew well before he'd even fired the missiles how this was going to go down in the end.

As stylish and masterful a thief as he may be, he was still ultimately a thief in the eyes of the public. No matter how many thefts and assaults and other petty crimes he added to his name, people were never going to hear his name and be scared out of their minds.

But working with the White Fang for any length of time? Firing missiles at residential areas? That was straight up terrorism at its finest and definitely not some small-time act. If he wasn't a wanted man already, he definitely was going to be now that he's fired the missiles.

This wasn't something he really wanted to do, to be perfectly honest. But he really didn't fancy his odds against that blond force of nature in another bout. And besides, what little he could gleam about what Cinder had planned for later down the line was going to undoubtedly be just as bad if not much worse than blowing up some parts of a residential area. Assuming he'd be able to even survive that long, he was going to end up one of the most wanted criminals anyway.

If anything, he was just getting a headstart on that front, weird as that sounded.

Oh well, if nothing else, the looks of horror on those damned brats' faces as the missiles flew through the air was cathartic. It made a rather shitty day at least somewhat better.

But alas… the catharsis didn't last long.

Sure enough, that blond freak was the first to react. "Team RWBY!" he suddenly called out, making little red and the three other super colorful girls nearly jump. "Go stop the missiles! My team and I will deal with Roman now!"

"R-Right!" Little red said that with a stutter before getting her game face back on and taking off at ridiculous speeds, her team following right after her.

Sheesh, Roman huffed, they were damn fast. They may very well catch up with the missiles. But can those four girls actually stop them? Meh, not his problem.

For his 'problem' lied right before his very eyes.

"Nora, fire!" the blond commanded and the auburn-haired girl wielding a ridiculously large hammer switched it into a much more compact form before firing several grenades at him and Neo.

Roman let the grenades hit, confident in the paladin's toughness as he stepped forward in it and raised its chaingun up as quickly as he could.

But as the grenades struck and exploded, he could just vaguely make out the sound of the blond teen's voice yet again, issuing more orders. However, the explosions were just loud enough to drown out what the teen was saying.

No way that was just bad timing or something – that shit had to have been intentional. And it only made Roman that much more desperate.

He opened fire with the chaingun in the general direction of the four teens, unable to see through the thick cloud of smoke settling around the paladin, not even its radars able to see past the smoke cloud.

He did, however, pick up two faint signals coming from his side and from within the cockpit, he physically turned to try and see who it was.

He'd feared it was the blond freak, but instead it was the hammer girl and the sole other guy within the lineup just now, some punk with completely black hair barring a strip of pink. These two circled right around him and out of his field of view, but the girl's battle cry and subsequent swing of her hammer striking at the ground told him that they just tried targeting Neo, who naturally dodged.

Roman grunted in mild annoyance but focused back on the now dissipating cloud right in front of him. Neo could more than handle herself against most people.

He kept firing his chaingun and now swung said weapon left and right as quickly as he could, trying to hit the other two teens just in case they'd dodged the initial burst. He even activated the missile launcher in the paladin's other arm and fired haphazardly ahead of him.

The following explosions naturally created more dust and debris, but it blew away the rest of the smoke that had been directly in front of him and he saw the blond teen and that redhead weren't there.

"Shit," he murmured. Activating the paladin's air cannons to clear away the rest of the smoke for good, he immediately spun the paladin around, looking for his targets.

Unfortunately, they found him first, just off to his other side, practically glaring at him.

Well, the blond was, but the redhead had her hands raised for some rea-.

The paladin suddenly lurched despite his expert handling and that was all the sign he needed to know something was up.

"What the-?!" he cried out now as the paladin's arms, which he'd tried to aim at the teens, moved slowly and clumsily. It was as if some invisible force was preventing them from fully doing so.

And to add to his worry and horror even more, the blond hadn't simply been standing there – there, within his twin swords, a truly scary amount of aura was gathering within them.

Flashing back to what had happened at the docks, Roman's eyes widened in pure fear as he struggled to move the paladin.

Fortunately for him, whatever force was acting upon it hadn't quite been able to keep him from maneuvering the massive mech to his right and back.

But thanks to its sheer size and affected speed, he hadn't quite been able to get out of range when the blond freak swung his blades.

Pure aura, backed by the teen's freakish strength, was unleashed and it crossed the small distance between them in an instant. Forming an x-shape due to how he'd swung, Roman simply wasn't able to do anything in response to guard and he could literally feel the attack cut into the paladin's body.

"No, no!" he now screamed as the sound of steel and wires were cut, the sound audible even over the sounds of explosions and fighting going off somewhere near him – those two punks and Neo were really going at it.

This paladin may only really be a prototype, but it was still made from some incredibly tough stuff, tougher than any bullhead and ship out there barring those ridiculously and obnoxiously large ships that make up the Atlas fleet. For sure, the materials it was made out of should be much, much tougher than anything the blond had ever cut through before…

And yet…!

The paladin reeled out of control and Roman hammered at the controls frantically to try and get it to stop stumbling back, but the force of those swings had been immense. Even though the aura had dissipated on impact, Roman himself could still practically feel the swings cutting into it.

However, the swings hadn't fully cut into the paladin; its limbs and more essential wiring were still intact. But moving it like normal still wasn't quite possible.

His mind working at greater and greater speeds now, Roman took one look at the redhead and it came to him – she was causing this somehow.

The fucking bitch…!

Yelling in frustration, he decided to open up the additional missiles compartments on the paladin since its arms were currently being restrained and fired several missiles, all of them aimed directly at the redhead.

Her look of intense concentration was broken and replaced with shock upon seeing the missiles come her way and as she instead gestured towards a few of them, Roman felt his control of the limbs return to him.

Even as the girl now worked her mysterious power upon the missiles, halting some right in their tracks while simultaneously trying – and more importantly, failing – to divert the rest away from her, Roman stomped forward and raised the chaingun.

But just before he could fire, the blond went into action. And oh boy, what speed he demonstrated as he did so.

The blond teen's entire body was literally radiating aura right now, not much, but enough for an intimidating golden glow to surround his form as he leapt at an angle and effortlessly sliced through the missiles that the redhead couldn't deal with.

Roman could only gape now even as he tried to pull the trigger from within the cockpit – only for there to be no response to this action. For as soon as the blond had dealt with the missiles the redhead couldn't focus on, he'd suddenly swung upwards upon landing on the ground and cleanly sliced off the paladin's chaingun, which had then fallen to the ground with a soul-crushing thud.

Then, as his right eye now seemed to glow and pulse with that same golden shine, the blond ran towards the paladin.

Roman tried to kick forward with the paladin's left leg in the heat of the moment and he did indeed feel it connect with the teen – except, instead of sending the teen flying a damn mile, the blond monster had spread his arms wide and fucking _caught the kick!_

Impossibly so, the blond had stopped the paladin dead cold simply by catching its leg. And when Roman immediately tried to wiggle free, he found himself unable to do so. The blond teen's strength was now even more immense than it had been at the dock!

No, no, that wasn't right, Roman realized within his subconscious. It wasn't so much that the blond freak had gotten stronger, no, it felt more as if he was finally really cutting loose now.

…

…Firing those missiles at the residential area may have been a bad move, if this was the result of angering him.

He was roused from his stupor when the creaking of metal was heard as the blond squeezed the spots he'd grabbed that much more tightly, warping the very steel itself. And with a roar, the blond then proceeded to do something even more insane.

Roman lurched back and forth within the cockpit as a sense of vertigo came over him. Very vaguely, he was reminded of when he was just a young boy, a perfectly normal and happy boy, specifically when his parents would lift him up off the ground and above their eye level.

Why was he being suddenly reminded of these almost long forgotten memories, some part of his brain asked itself? Why, the answer was obvious, it was just that his mind was refusing to accept what was going on-.

This blond monster was _lifting the paladin up_.

And not just an inch off the ground or so, no, this teen went the extra mile and practically lifted the entire damned thing as much overhead as he could.

Roman could only freeze within the cockpit, unable to believe for even a second what was happening. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could just barely see the redhead sporting what had to be the same exact expression he must be making right now. And judging by the lack of fighting and yelling that could be heard, Neo and those other two teens must have stopped to watch in shock too.

He and this blond monster were undoubtedly the center of attention and for all the wrong fucking reasons as far as he was concerned.

Up in the air, he could only flail the paladin's one intact arm around pathetically, its entire shaking form making it impossible to safely launch any missiles at anything without risking hitting himself somehow.

But he didn't give a shit about his safety anymore – he just wanted to get as far away from this teen as was possible and he wanted this now.

"Come on, come on!" he yelled as he tried to aim the paladin's missile launcher at the ground below. Any spot near the blond monster would do.

But just before he could fully take aim, the blond monster took a few shaky steps forward, throwing off Roman's aim. For a split second, Roman almost smiled uncertainly, believing that perhaps the blond monster's strength was faltering – except he couldn't possibly be more wrong.

The teen had simply been steadying himself.

And the next thing Roman knew, the blond monster ran forward with the paladin still being held up, smashing into and through the nearest buildings that had still been standing throughout all the fighting so far.

As this happened, with old plastering and worn-down bricks and rotting wood collapsing all around them, Roman was being violently thrown around within the cockpit from the sheer force of each building they smashed through.

He tried to protect himself as best as he could with aura, but the collisions were taking their tolls on him.

And sure enough, as he was being dealt enough damage for him to suffer injuries even with his aura still remaining relatively intact, Roman could only scream in horror.

This was not how he wanted to die…!

* * *

Team RWBY rushed as fast as they could towards the residential area, Ruby naturally taking the lead thanks to her semblance. Traversing the rooftops with every last bit of agility that they could all muster, they finally came to a halt atop the tallest one around, which wasn't really saying much. Still, it would serve its purpose.

In any case, they'd been able to get ahead of the missiles without too much trouble, but now the residential area was dangerously close by and they'd yet to even figure out a way to deal with the missiles.

Yet even so, Ruby didn't waiver. She wanted to become a huntress in order to help others. Now was as good a time as any for her to live up to that dream of hers.

She'd considered perhaps getting Blake to use her semblance to detonate the missiles once they got within range, using those shadow clones of hers as sacrifices – but she'd ultimately decided against it. Given how her friend's semblance worked, that would put Blake too close in proximity to the missiles themselves when they go off.

And Ruby wouldn't sacrifice any of her friends either.

In which case, all that could be done was to shoot them down.

And in that particular case…!

"Weiss, how far away can you make a glyph?!" Ruby demanded of her partner as they all glared at the approaching missiles. And no, Ruby nor her friends were deaf to the morning crowd on the streets below, all of whom could obviously see what was heading their way.

"Far enough! What are you thinking?" Weiss replied.

"Try making glyphs in their flight paths! The black ones!" Ruby cried out as she readied her baby.

Weiss complied and with a single arm movement, two glyphs for every missile appeared high in the sky, appearing just as the missiles passed right by the spots they now occupied.

The missiles were fast and were already several yards away by the time the glyphs even took effect – and for a split second, Ruby worried it was all for nothing.

Then thankfully, the function of the black glyphs kicked in, the combined gravitational pull of two glyphs working in conjunction proving more than enough to affect the missiles.

They didn't actually manage to drag the missiles back or anything, but it was enough to slow them down noticeably.

And now it was just up to her. Given the distance, neither Ember Celica nor Gambol Shroud had the range to accurate shoot at the missiles. Only Crescent Rose had that kind of range due to being a rifle.

Ruby took aim on the nearest one and fired three shots. All of them missed. Ruby growled dangerously – her aim was still off a bit. Didn't help that the missiles were still moving forward.

"Can you make any more of them?!" Ruby asked desperately.

"I could, but it's already taking effort to maintain the ones I already have up!" Weiss replied, her delicate features straining. "Those missiles aren't exactly light, you know!"

Ruby gulped. If Weiss' glyphs faltered, the missiles would quickly speed back up and shooting them down before they get too close would be nearly impossible. Even if letting them get closer would make locking on easier, the sheer size and power of the explosions would still put a lot of people at risk.

"Blake, Yang! Go down to the crowd and try and get them to move away! If this goes wrong, we need to minimize casualties!" she ordered.

"Right!" both replied before leaping down – though not without looks of frustration on their faces. It was obvious they didn't like not being able to do anything directly about the missiles.

Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose, swapping out her usual rounds for more explosive ones. These rounds were rarely used since she never quite imagined needing them to blast through anything too thick. But against the relative thinness of the missiles' heads compared to that paladin of Roman's, these rounds may finally find some use today. It was a good thing she'd decided to come prepared.

"Weiss, can you just make a single glyph over the barrel of my baby? If my shots are made faster, I can hopefully shoot them down before they build up too much speed again," Ruby explained.

With a huff, Weiss waved another hand and a glyph appeared right over Crescent Rose's barrel. "Try not to cut things too close, like in those stupid action thriller movies of yours – I don't think I'd be able to handle that kind of stress."

Despite the current pressure she was feeling, Ruby laughed a little. If Weiss could make a simple joke like that right now, then surely things can't be that bad, right?

"You got it!"

Taking aim once more, Ruby prepared to fire.

This time, she resolved to not miss. The lives of others were depending on it.

* * *

Using too much of his full strength wasn't something Jaune had ever thought he'd have to do this early on during his time at Beacon, but alas he'd been proven wrong.

In order to ensure Roman couldn't fire anymore missiles at any nearby populace, he had to take down the paladin as quickly as possible, render it as obsolete as could be.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as if he could actually use all of the power currently at his disposal – to have that much aura flowing through him at once would do his body far too much harm and leave him unable to move properly, which is the last thing he could afford right now. More importantly than that, however, that much overflowing aura would also damage his surroundings, which would include his friends and that wasn't a risk he could take still.

Thus, he still had to limit how much power he could use.

As it is, the mere fact he was able to lift the paladin and slam it through multiple thankfully abandoned buildings was enough as it is. He felt bad doing so, collapsing buildings like this, but better the loss of old buildings than lives.

Speaking of which…

He slammed the paladin through an eighth building just now and as he did so, his grip began to falter on it. Not because his strength was failing him – it could never fail him – but rather that all that running and smashing around just now had naturally caused his grip to slip little by little throughout the process.

Rather than allow his grip to naturally slip entirely off his foe, Jaune instead slowed down and then chucked the paladin with a grunt. Through the air, it flew albeit only several meters before crashing into the ground with a most audible thud.

His blades, which he'd sheathed hastily just before he even lifted up the paladin in the first place, were now drawn once more and he proceeded to dash forward and cut at the spots that had been the most banged up as a result of his running around.

As his aura surged through his very insides, strengthening his bones and muscles to the point of nearly breaking and tearing them apart, his strength increased just that much more and so he cut through the otherwise tough steel with ease.

Roman tried to move the paladin as soon as it had even landed, but his initial swing just now prevented that from happening, for he'd cut into the paladin's right leg, severing the 'foot' of it and making it stumble in mid-movement.

But of course, Jaune wasn't done just yet.

He kept on swinging and swinging, advancing forward with every attack. He cut into its legs, then the lower torso and just kept working his way up. He switched to the arms and hacked them up before they could even move, rendering the weapons hidden within them utterly useless.

The compartments around the cockpit, where there were other missiles stored, opened up however and prepared to fire – but he moved faster than they could even be fired and he unleashed a downwards swing that sliced through the perfectly aligned row of missiles before any of them could be activated. Doing this kept them from exploding and thereby from grievously injuring him, not that such a thing would've slowed him down much.

After doing this, the paladin finally seemed to throw in the towel, whatever other parts of it that had still been active now falling permanently silent – the damage he'd just inflicted had finally proven too much for whatever backup systems it had to keep operating, it seemed.

Paying no heed to anything else, Jaune then silently marched up to the cockpit, the sole part of the mech that had been left untouched, and promptly kicked at it, knocking the lid or whatever it's called right off…

…And in doing so, exposing Roman Torchwick to him.

The thief simply remained rooted in place and looked up at him, positively terrified.

"W-Well," the thief began. "Uh, guess this is where I turn myself in?"

Turn himself in? If Jaune's psychological state wasn't so messed up because of his own semblance, he might've laughed at the man's audacity.

Instead, he merely raised both swords, preparing to swing them down.

Roman's eyes widened now in completely unhidden terror. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm surrendering here!" he yelled out almost shrilly, whatever composure the man normally had nowhere to be found.

"I can see that," Jaune responded seriously. "But if given the chance, you'll just break out of prison and head elsewhere to continue your life of crime. You'll just keep on hurting innocent people for your own sake. I can't allow that to continue."

He gave Roman just the briefest of chances to try and prove him wrong, to say otherwise, to say he'll turn over a new leaf. But instead, he watched for just a second as the man gaped, unable to say anything to refute what had just been said.

As always, Jaune's instincts were right – those such as Roman, who would so easily escalate their actions like he had just minutes ago couldn't be allowed to keep on roaming around.

He swung his blades – only to miss.

Something hooked around his feet and tugged, the suddenness of this throwing him off balance. Even so, once committed to an action, getting him to not follow through on it was difficult for even himself to stop.

Rather than cut Roman vertically down the middle, his now stumbling self threw off his own aim just enough to instead cut into the side of the cockpit – along with the entirety of Roman's left side, dangerously close to Roman's neck and head.

But even as Jaune instinctively corrected his posture immediately thereafter, he didn't bother following up with a proper finish – even if he'd missed his intended target, he knew for a fact his swing had just cut through a solid portion of the man's heart and other organs. There would be no coming back from that. Whoever had thrown him off balance just now had accomplished nothing other than ensuring Roman a quick but all too painful death rather than the instantaneous and painless one Jaune had intended.

Jaune didn't like inflicting pain on others, even those like Roman, but there was no point in trying to correct this now; the man would be dead within a minute at best, seconds at worst.

Instead, he swiftly turned to see who'd thrown him off balance.

It was the woman from earlier, the silent one.

Only she wasn't so silent right now – the woman was practically crying out at the sight before her. She'd clearly intended for Jaune to miss his attack entirely, but he'd proven too fast on that part.

Jaune looked down at his right foot, where the woman's umbrella had been left, the hook of the handle around his ankle. He silently shook it off, but in doing so, he drew the woman's attention.

The shock and horror in those mismatched eyes of hers now gave way to pure rage and hatred in mid-motion, but upon fully looking up at him and into his eyes, the rage faltered and her hatred diminished. Jaune knew not what she was seeing as she looked up at him, but his own gaze must have really been intense too.

In any case, he swung his left blade at her face, with every intent on killing her. Much like the now dying Roman, this woman was not someone who would ever stop hurting the innocent to get what she wanted.

The woman threw herself back, using that semblance of hers to try and take her previous place. However, that would no longer work on him; he made sure to swing as far out as he could without losing his current footing this time. As a result, he cut through not just her fake but also right at her, digging ever so lightly into the spot just above her breasts.

Aura was shattered. Clothing was cut as was her flesh, blood being drawn. Even so, it wasn't that deep a cut and the woman continued to draw back as far as she could from him even whilst hissing in obvious pain.

Jaune merely followed up with another slash, this one a diagonal one. But even with his increased speed, the woman was able to dodge, having obviously anticipated this action. She ducked even as she threw herself to the side and promptly did a backflip that propelled her a fair distance away.

Jaune channeled some aura into his left sword and swung it, unleashing an aura wave that quickly reached her. And this time, when the woman attempted to dodge, she wasn't quite fast enough.

She let out a loud gasp, probably the closest thing to a scream she could make, as the aura wave, vertical in nature, sliced off her right hand as she'd tried moving to her left. The sheer intensity of his aura cauterized the wound so there was no blood, but it was clear the shock was getting to her already.

Even so, it wasn't enough to keep her from using her semblance yet again despite having her aura completely shattered – perhaps the result of some adrenaline spike or something. In any case, she managed to make not just one or two, but nearly a dozen fakes of herself that were all spread out.

Taking them out in a single attack was impossible, so instead, Jaune simply pounced forward and headed for what he believed to be the real one. Except, as he cut into it, it shattered like glass, proving it to be a fake.

"Hmm?" He couldn't help but blink in genuine surprise. He could've sworn that was the real one. Perhaps he could still be fooled by the woman's semblance after all.

That said, as he shattered the fake, the other fakes promptly shattered too, revealing to him that the woman had somehow escaped.

He was tempted to pursue, but before he could act on such an urge, his team came running up to him.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out. "A-Are you okay?! I'm sorry, that woman slipped past all of us and-!"

"It's fine," he answered before she could potentially start rambling. In any case, her concern was appreciated. Far better to have her concerned than upset at him like earlier. Seeing Pyrrha and Ren and Nora angry at him like before… it had hurt a fair bit.

Alas, he may have thought that too soon – for after looking him up and down to make sure he really was okay, Pyrrha then looked past him and spotted the ruined paladin.

…and the blood that could be seen on the cockpit's sides couldn't be missed.

She tensed up as did Nora and Ren.

"Did… did you…?" Amazingly, it was Ren who asked this.

Jaune inwardly grimaced, bracing himself. "…Yes. He won't be hurting anyone ever again."

"…I see," Ren said before letting out a long sigh.

Pyrrha and Nora looked ready to say something, but before either could, the beeping of their scrolls interrupted.

Jaune was the quickest to pull out his and looked to see he'd received a message, which his friends had also no doubt gotten too.

It was from Ruby.

 _Missiles were stopped!_

This straightforward message was accompanied by several emojis that Jaune couldn't really identify – he was still out of touch with certain things thanks to his travels – but those words were more than enough to cause relief to flood through his very being.

Sure enough, when he turned to look in the direction the missiles had gone in, he could just barely see several large puffs of smoke and debris, where the missiles had detonated upon being shot. He must have been so caught up dealing with Roman and the mystery woman that he hadn't heard the explosions, he reasoned.

But he didn't let himself fully relax just yet.

They still had to locate the White Fang, after all. Surely, there was no way in hell they could've been idle during all this.

"Come on," he said quietly. "We still have something that needs to be done."

With his swords sheathed once more, he quietly motioned with his hands for them to follow him. If they just followed the general path Roman had taken while in the paladin – given its weight, it had left noticeable imprints in the ground – then hopefully they can follow it back to where their base was at.

…

…

…

Ten minutes later, they'd reached the building that was undoubtedly their new base… and it was now abandoned.

Looks like in the amount of time that had been spent dealing with Roman, the woman and the missiles, they'd been able to get the hell out of dodge.

Alas, they hadn't taken everything – there was still plenty of boxes and equipment left lying around. If Jaune had to guess, the sounds of all that fighting must have really terrified them, to the point where they clearly had felt fully packing up wasn't worth the time or effort.

The White Fang cell Roman had been working was clearly still out there… but at least Jaune could somewhat content himself with knowing they'd left behind quite a lot in the process. He would have to count that as a small victory.

He sent Ruby and the others a quick message stating just as much. And he received a reply quite quickly.

 _Ok. That really sucks, but it's way better than nothing! Police showed up like five minutes ago too – they noticed the missiles and us blowing them up. Will send them over right now, so just message me back the location! Uhm, and professor Goodwitch is on the way too, but she didn't sound all that mad when she called me so that might be a good sign! Just thought you should know! Oh, did you get Roman by the way?_

Reading over that message, Jaune paused for a long moment before texting back a very simple reply – the location of the now abandoned White Fang base along with him quite cryptically saying that Roman had been 'taken care of' in addition to the location of where they'd left him 'hanging' and that he and his team would be with him until the authorities arrived for pick up.

For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to tell Ruby that the thief had been permanently dealt with. He knew it wouldn't be long at all before Ruby and the others and indeed the rest of the kingdom would learn of Roman's death, but he couldn't imagine just telling her that through a simple message or call.

No, he'd much rather do that in person… though he didn't look forward to doing that either. Nonetheless, they deserved the truth from him and he would not hide it.

But before that… he and his team would have to go and collect the body.

"We should head back to where… to where Roman's body is at," he said to the others as they all stood around, waiting for him to finish messaging Ruby.

The expressions on his friends' faces were most severe, but they silently acquiesced to his command.

Even for him, it was a tense jog back to where Roman's body had been left, one of complete and most uncomfortable silence.

Even so, he knew what had to be done. He sighed in preparation as he then spoke. "So," he began. "Whatever it is you have to say, please say it."

"Was it…" Pyrrha started, only to hesitate as he patiently looked to her. "Was it really needed to kill him?"

"Yes," he answered after staying silent for just a second or two. He spoke the word with such certainty that it was enough to make his partner slightly recoil, as if punched. "It had to be done, Pyrrha – the likes of Roman Torchwick never would've given up his ways, never would've changed. He'd have kept on committing crime after crime until he was physically incapable of doing so. And by such a point, just how many people would he have hurt by then? How many people could've been spared whatever pain and suffering he'd caused? The very fact he was even remotely willing to fire those missiles earlier at residential areas spoke for itself just how far he'd go if it meant achieving something he wanted."

Pyrrha took a second to look down, even looking in the general direction of Roman's body, only to practically flinch away upon seeing the body. "Even so, he could've been held in prison."

Surprisingly, it was Ren who spoke up now. "That would've only done so much good," he replied quietly, the black-haired teen shaking his head a little. "Prisons are constantly under siege from Grimm due to all the negativity the inmates and guards release. Putting someone like Torchwick in prison would only risk him escaping during any single moment of chaos."

Jaune blinked in mild surprise, having not expected Ren to support him like that. Nonetheless, he'd said more or less what he'd been intending to say. "Not only that," he began, picking up from where Ren ended. "But out there in the frontier, there aren't exactly many places where the much more dangerous criminals could be safely locked up until the kingdom's authorities can come and pick them up, not unless whoever captured them in the first place is willing to stand guard the entire time… and that won't always be possible for one reason or another. And unlike the kingdoms, the frontier doesn't really have any real defense against the Grimm – no walls or barricades to keep out the ground-based ones, no mounted turrets or safety nets to hold back avian Grimm. If there's enough negativity about, then the towns and villages out there will be attacked. Keeping bandits and thugs secure under such risky conditions isn't feasible. In some cases, they may very well be the source of the negativity to start with and draw the Grimm anyways."

Jaune let out another sigh. "And besides," he continued, closing his eyes for a second. He knew what he was going to say wasn't really going to sit well with Pyrrha. "Sometimes, there are people who are simply better off dead… for the sake of the greater good."

Sure enough, the redhead looked as if she'd been struck and hard at that too. She clenched a fist tightly but didn't say anything in response. Jaune could tell by the conflicted look on her face that on an intellectual level, she understood all this, but her heart was saying 'no' nonetheless.

He wasn't angry at Pyrrha – that was not an emotion he was really capable of anymore. Even if he could still feel such an emotion, he probably wouldn't be upset with how Pyrrha had acted earlier either. For he understood far too well the burden that came with being in a position such as this, which is to say, a position that could do some good. Even back before the bandit attack on his family, his father had often told him and his sisters of the dangers that were always threatening others, from bandits to con men and terrorists and so much more. Admittedly, having been such a young boy at the time he hadn't truly understood everything his dad had explained, but he'd still understood that the world wasn't so pure a place.

That said, it was one thing to know that things weren't always black and white, but another thing to be put in a situation where one got to see that up close and personal.

Pyrrha and so many others that applied to the four major academies may have been training for years on end to be huntsmen and huntresses and have therefore received plenty of lessons about what to expect when finally out in the field, but reality was always so much more impactful than anything that could be read about in a book or taught in a lesson. Therefore, it was alright that she'd acted that way; not everyone could just roll with things that easily, not at first anyways. And in any case, killing wasn't always the answer.

"I… I understand," Pyrrha eventually said. "It's just that…! I mean, I've known that we wouldn't always fight Grimm…" She was rambling now, an unusual thing for the teen to do.

Walking up to her, Jaune placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's fine," he responded. "I know it's not easy. It's not easy for me either nor will it ever be easy, but in order to protect the innocent, hard calls will eventually have to be made. Saving literally everyone… that's not possible."

He tried not to sound too bitter at that. He liked to think he succeeded since none of his friends seemed to notice.

Pyrrha nodded slowly, grateful for his understanding if the small and strained smile was anything to go by. "Thank you… and sorry… the woman escaped because of me…"

He shook his head. "If I'd truly tried, I could've killed her in one go, but doing that would've only put you and the others at risk in the process – my semblance is quite powerful in that regard. So it's also my fault that she'd taken off like that. Besides, regardless if she'd been able to make it back to Roman initially, he'd have launched those missiles anyways."

He now backed away from Pyrrha, though not before gently turning her around as to not have to look at Roman's body.

Off in the distance, he could now hear sirens coming. Looks like the police and ambulance were nearly here now.

The sound of the sirens relieved him a fair bit – soon Roman's body would be taken away and he and his team could lighten up a bit more. It was always hard to be around any scene of death, even if it had been necessary. Though people may find this strange if he ever said it aloud, but he hoped Roman got a proper burial. Out there in the frontier… it was always so dispiritingly easy for those that have died to be forgotten at wherever they'd fallen.

That all taken into account, however, he now looked to Ren and Nora in mild confusion. "So, why the sudden support?" he asked Ren, referring to the teen having explained to Pyrrha just now about the prisons.

He'd asked that in a calm manner, but the way Ren and Nora flinched, one would think he just yelled at them in an accusatory manner.

"…Being from a town ourselves, Nora and I know all too well how things are out there. And during our travels from out there towards the city, we've seen plenty of… well, let's just simply call it 'unsavory things.' We've seen our fill of death. And we knew going into this that at some point, as huntsmen and huntresses, we'd have to deal out death… we'd just hoped it wouldn't have to come to that so early on," Ren explained, looking ashamed.

But like with Pyrrha, Jaune wasn't upset and merely nodded in understanding. "I get it," he replied softly and meaning it. "It's not something that should ever be taken lightly or done so easily."

Ren and Nora nodded in complete agreement. "Even so," his fellow male continued. "I'm sorry for earlier as well. I know you have the best of intentions, Jaune, but perhaps we could try and communicate better about that in the future… seeing you just so ready to kill that woman had really rattled us."

Jaune shook his head up and down, pondering on that. "Yeah, fair enough."

As the police finally pulled up to their location, the blond teen took to heart what had just been said. It was easy to forget that he and his friends have only really known each other for weeks on end. To just expect them to roll with whatever he did as their leader would be the very height of foolishness and egotism.

But this didn't discourage him – if anything, it encouraged him.

It meant there was plenty room for growth for all of them.

He could only pray that going forward from here that they'd be able to make use of their potential.

Considering that the White Fang had gotten away again, he had the distinct feeling the terrorist group wasn't going to let yet another loss go like this.

He inwardly grimaced. For also taking into consideration the inevitable escalation, whatever was going to come next would likely make this near-tragedy look like a warm up in comparison.

* * *

 **Though the situation may have ultimately been resolved without much issue for our protagonists, things are going to be spicing up now in all sorts of ways.**

 **Obviously, with Roman dead, Neo terrified, and the White Fang cell forced to relocate yet again and with even more of their supplies lost, Cinder and other powers in play aren't going to take this lying down. Expect the upcoming events to have true consequences now.**

 **The next chapter will also go into more detail about both the exact fallout of this near-tragedy as well as what else is going on in the shadows. And as things advance, Jaune WILL find himself being tested in all sorts of ways, his friends as well as others too.**

 **Hope you will look forward to that.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	18. Chapter 18

Started my volunteer position recently. Have only done a few shifts so far, but it's definitely interesting stuff, eye-opening in a way too. Now, my intention is to do my volunteer shifts on my days off – which are the primarily the days that I spend writing on. Now, this isn't going to affect the rate at which the chapters come out since my shifts are only a few hours long and I get to pick in advance when I want to start my shifts.

What will affect the release of future chapters, however, is my next novel. As I believe I've stated once before, my novel is going to be part of a short series and my intention is to soon start the 2nd part of the series. My intention is to start the 2nd novel after this chapter, but as I'm still thinking of how exactly to start it, I might hold it off until later. Don't know yet, still thinking.

In any case, when I do start working on my novel, I will be alternating writing a chapter for it and this fic like I used to do. What this means is that future chapters for this fic will be released possibly a week or two later than usual, but of course, that'll depend on plenty of other factors.

Just wanted to let you guys know in advance in case I do start my next novel as planned right after this chapter is completed.

Now, other than that, glad you all liked the last chapter! And yeah, things will definitely be changing in response to the events detailed in it.

Hope you will all like how things will progress from here on out!

Chapter 18

A few days go by in what feels like the blink of the eyes for most of the public, following what had been the all too shocking news of Roman Torchwick having fired missiles at a residential area, only to thankfully be thwarted in this endeavor… followed by the equally unexpected loss of his life.

To say that the public was awhirl was honestly a bit of an understatement. While Roman Torchwick was certainly a no-good scumbag, his criminal activities were things that the public had learned to sort of just roll with due to just how often he'd been able to escape the authorities. Plus, well, at the end of it all, he'd merely been a punk-ass thief in the eyes of most people, those that only really bothered listening to whatever the news reported.

So, to learn an otherwise small-time thief had attempted an act of terrorism only to end up dead was definitely a break from what had been considered the norm and it had resulted in a lot of people being put on edge now. After all, if Roman Torchwick could seemingly and so suddenly switch from his usual criminals acts to something of that scale, then what else could possibly happen now?

Such was the line of thinking the public seemed to have and many were now practically eager to talk and discuss whatever crazy conspiracy theories they've thought up.

Really now, Cinder thought, it was enough to almost make her retch from sheer annoyance.

Alas, these past few days have been just as quick for her, if only due to having to once again been forced to adjust her plans. Unlike before, however, where things had been fairly minor, this sudden shift in her plans was much more significant.

For as much as she'd liked to look down on Roman and his pathetic smalltime ways, he'd been a relatively necessary component in her immediate plans. After all, he'd been intended to lead the efforts at Mount Glenn as well as the execution of the train being rammed through Vale's walls, something that was by no means a small task. That hadn't even been getting into what was supposed to come after that.

But now, with his sudden death, she was short on manpower and with such a sudden void being left within her ranks, she'd been left with no choice but to take over for Roman's former job for the time being, that being the leading of the White Fang's forces.

Threatening them into submission had been more than easy enough, but that had been the only easy thing she's done these past few days. Thanks to the botched docks operation and Roman being killed well before he could continue his Dust thefts, they were now drastically short on Dust and the White Fang she currently had at her command weren't too keen on continuing the thefts out of fear they'd end up like the now deceased thief.

Furthermore…

"Neo," Cinder began in an even tone, trying not to let her annoyance through. As tempted as she was to just use what portion of the Fall Maiden power she had to try and intimidate the silent criminal to do her bidding, she knew better than to do so. The short woman had been positively unresponsive the past few days, what with having lost someone so precious to her. Oh, and lost her hand too, there was that as well.

"Neo," she repeated, speaking to the woman whom she was currently standing in front of. Said woman had stayed cooped up in her little room here after having been given first aid for her severed hand, whilst holding Roman's newly re-forged cane, Melodic Cudgel, which had been finished and delivered here not so long after he'd died. The diminutive woman had absolutely refused to part with the weapon upon seeing it.

Cinder sighed. This wasn't something she wanted to do, but she was really the only competent one who could try right now.

"Neo, look at me," she said, now more forcefully. "…I don't know what exactly your relationship with Roman was… but he's dead now."

That finally got a response out of the woman, who now bothered to even look at her. Her heterochronic eyes were red around the irises, very much so. She's been crying a lot, it seemed. The woman glared at her, bitterness and pure rage swirling within those eyes of hers.

"I won't pretend to be sympathetic," Cinder continued, utterly undeterred. "…I know you don't like me one bit, never have and never will. The feeling is beginning to feel mutual. But that said, I'm here to ask you for something-."

Before she could even fully finish speaking, Neo was already angrily shaking her head, making her feelings clear.

Cinder suppressed another sigh with extreme effort. "Let me finish first. I know you couldn't care less about my plans and it's obvious you're too angry now to care much for what I could to do you right now. But, I want you to realize something here – the person you're truly angry at, the one who killed Roman, is the very same person I now want dealt with. Do you understand that? This Jaune person is now very much in my way, just as much as he is the person you now undoubtedly hate. Our reasons may obviously differ… but I want him removed from the equation just as much as you do."

Neo's glare didn't soften in the slightest, but Cinder could now see just the smallest flicker of genuine understanding in the woman's expression.

"I won't ask or demand you to take Roman's place," she now said, speaking just a bit more softly. "I know very well that he was the brains behind your operations. However, I do ask that you serve as a guard for the train."

Neo's glare now was replaced by a look of mild confusion. She then made several fast and wild gestures with her sole hand, not once letting go of the cane as she did so.

Cinder had to wait a second afterwards to try and process what Neo was trying to say. And while she couldn't fully grasp exactly what the mute woman had just 'said,' she was able to get the general gist. "As tempted as I'm sure you are to try hunting down Jaune, do keep in mind he's a Beacon student. Getting to him won't be easy and while I'm sure you'd relish the challenge, do you truly think you'll be able to get to him while at that damned academy?"

She now patiently watched as Neo grinded her teeth. The small woman was certainly a skilled fighter and with a dangerous semblance to boot, but was she good enough to sneak into Beacon of all places and take down her target fast enough to avoid having anyone interfere and rob her of her revenge? The answer to that was an obvious 'no.' And Neo knew that too.

"Don't worry so much," Cinder said as she grimaced. "It's quite clear that this Jaune and his friends have a penchant for interfering… and I can't help but feel that at this rate, they may somehow find the train. And should it somehow come to that, well, it'll likely only be him and his friends… and between you and all the other White Fang under my command, surely dealing with them all wouldn't be so impossible at that point."

Neo now shifted in her spot and slowly twirled the new Melodic Cudgel in a manner very similar to how Roman used to do. It was clear she was trying to envision what Cinder was proposing… and as she clearly and oh so desperately imagined it playing it, a truly vicious and feral sneer now appeared on the woman's face.

But even then, Neo looked up at her with inquisitive eyes.

This time, Cinder didn't bother holding back a sigh. "If a much earlier opportunity presents itself to take him out, then I shall inform you of it. Do keep in mind what I'd just said – I want him removed just as much as you do, so do try to avoid jumping into things on your own. I want him dead and I will no longer be taking any more big risks. Understood?"

Neo took a minute to do so, but she eventually nodded.

Satisfied with this, Cinder bid her a curt goodbye and left her be.

As she exited the room, she spotted Mercury and Emerald waiting close by, the two looking at her with uncertain eyes. Much like with her, recent events have rattled them. Unlike her, however, they were doing a truly piss-poor job at dealing with everything going on.

Sometimes, it truly was a pain to have subordinates that were only good at very certain things.

"What's the plan now, ma'am?" asked a hesitant Emerald, who took note of what must be a rather angry expression.

"For now, leave me be," Cinder responded in a clipped tone, making her and Mercury flinch a bit. "Once I figure things out, I'll let you both know what to do next. Until then, do as you please. Just don't somehow end up like Roman."

The two quickly nodded and left her be.

As soon as they did, Cinder leaned against the nearest wall and massaged her temple. This was close to a sign of weakness as she'll ever allow herself to show, and even then only to herself.

Back when she'd first started coming up with all this, she'd thought it perfect, a scheme worthy of admiration. But now, ever since coming to Vale, things have quickly fallen apart.

Adapting to the fallout of the failed docks operation hadn't been too big a hassle now in hindsight, but this? This was much different. Roman was to serve as her proxy in controlling and directing the White Fang grunts they received while she concentrated on infiltrating Beacon and eventually finding Amber.

However, thanks to Emerald and Mercury first failing to assassinate Tukson via being foiled by a Beacon student, infiltrating as students like she'd initially planned was no longer a possibility. That in turn had required her to contact Watts to figure out another way of infecting the CCT and while she did have confidence in that bastard's inventiveness, she's now lost her one way of being able to safely search for Amber within Beacon.

And now with Roman dead, whatever alternatives she could've come up with to this initial problem went up completely in smoke. Neither Mercury nor Emerald could be relied on to lead the White Fang in properly carrying out Roman's intended role and the same went for Neo. She supposed she could call up Adam Taurus himself and get him to come, for he'd always been intended to lead the attack on Beacon anyways to stir up chaos, but while she did have him currently cowed thanks to her power as a partial Maiden, summoning him to Vale this early on in her plan ran the risk of that stubborn fool trying to usurp her plans. Just because he'd acquiesced to her demands the first time they'd met after obtaining part of the Fall Maiden's power didn't mean he likely hadn't been thinking ways of kill her since then. Putting him in charge of the White Fang cell here in Vale with her so nearby wasn't a good combination.

And she utterly refused to call any of her fellow 'comrades' for assistance. Calling Watts had been humiliating enough to do, even if it had been necessary. Asking Salem to send Tyrian here to support her would be just downright stupid – that damned Faunus was too much of a wild card, even with how devoted he is to their master. As for Hazel, she wasn't so sure. She knew him to be powerful, but out of them all, he was surprisingly the most enigmatic one and was a serious lone wolf. He wouldn't bother assisting unless directly commanded to do so by Salem herself.

Put much more simply, it'd be up to her to lead the White Fang cell here… but that was only if she was still determined in carrying out the intended breach.

And it was on that note now that she found herself genuinely hesitating. With just two or three incidents, much has changed for her plans, far too much, she now began to truly realize. In fact, it was only really now that she had this moment to herself that she realized just how impractical many aspects of her plans now were.

Her goal had been to use the upcoming Vytal Festival as a platform to spread chaos and fear across all of Vale and Remnant, all whilst using it as a cover to obtain the rest of the Fall Maiden. To that end, she'd intended to cause a breach in Vale's defenses to first sow the seeds of negativity that would then be capitalized on during the festival itself. The train was necessary for this, but without the proper amount of Dust, it wouldn't be enough to breach the walls. And unless she could infect the CCT and take control of Atlas' robot forces, whatever Grimm could be smuggled into the city would be quickly suppressed and she'd lose her one window of opportunity to locate Amber.

Her grand plan of bringing down both Beacon academy and Vale in addition to becoming a proper Maiden was now shot to hell… but only if she persisted on accomplishing both goals.

If she instead focused on just one goal, then perhaps she could still pull it off. And of course, it went without saying which of these two goals she was going to prioritize.

The Fall Maiden power was rightfully hers now. It wouldn't do to keep holding off on obtaining it.

And so, as her doubts disappeared, Cinder stood upright once more, almost feeling renewed in a sense.

She knew now what she wanted to do. Now it was time to start making the proper preparations.

And this time… this time, no one was going to ruin her plans.

* * *

Ozpin cared deeply for all of his comrades. He truly did.

That said, as he looked out his window and saw a truly ridiculous number of ships flying pretty much right over Beacon, he was feeling more than a little tempted to smack dear James right upside the head.

Alas, the man was the general of Atlas' military. Doing so would only get him in a lot of hot water among any who would witness such a thing.

So, instead as said general entered his office and approached him with a warm smile on his face, Ozpin could only do the same.

"James," he started. "A pleasure as always to see you, old friend."

"Likewise, Oz, likewise," came the deep voiced reply from the man, who shook his outstretched hand.

"If only our little reunion came without a show," came the rather clipped voice of Glynda, who'd accompanied James on his way up.

James's smile turned to a frown as he glanced at Glynda. "Glynda, please, surely you could understand why-."

"Why you chose to practically bring your entire available fleet here to Vale?" she finished for him rather rhetorically. She pushed her glasses up. "Yes, I do. That doesn't make it acceptable, however."

With James' attention off him for the second, Ozpin smirked a bit in agreement. His deputy headmistress never had been one to hold her tongue.

James allowed himself a slight huff of annoyance. "But can you really blame me? After all, I've kept up with recent events here in Vale. Needless to say, the citizens aren't going to just roll with all this without a care – security needs to be drastically amped up, especially with the Vytal Festival still drawing close."

"Even so," Ozpin now interjected before Glynda could get too mouthy. "You have to understand James that there are things such as overkill. Bringing so many ships and personnel will only make the public paranoid about what exactly we're apparently going to go up against. Surely, as general, you can understand there's always limits to what must be done."

James' frown deepened as he mulled over his words. "And while I do agree with you both, you can tell that these past few incidents have been significantly greater than previous ones. If or when another incident occurs, how can we be sure it won't be just as bad if not even much worse than what had happened just a few days ago?"

Now it was Ozpin's turn to frown. Sadly, James had a point. The docks incident had been one thing, but then the obvious assassination attempt on Tukson had been far too convenient a thing to occur not so long after the aforementioned incident. And now with the most recent event being talked about in the news…

Hmm, James' point may be much more substantial, after all.

Alas, as headmaster of Beacon and longtime proponent of humanity as a whole, he couldn't afford to just go in guns blazing. He's learned the hard way many times that escalating things first will always inevitable lead to the opposition escalating their own actions just as quickly and with even more ferocity.

"For now, let's put our arguments to the side," he now said in a neutral tone. "You've arrived earlier than planned, James. I take it that it's to do with not just the Vytal Festival and your own moral obligations?"

James nodded as he now took a seat across from Ozpin's desk. Ozpin himself took a seat in his own chair while Glynda pulled up another chair to join them.

The three of them were mentally preparing themselves for what may very well be a lengthy conversation.

"As I'm sure you both know by now, a prototype of our new paladin had somehow fallen into the hands of the White Fang," James began, his gaze hardening to the point where the 'iron' part of his surname was now quite literal. "Naturally, there's no way I could just sit around and stare slack-jawed over such an impossibility."

"I take it you plan to investigate here in Vale?" Glynda spoke with a raised eyebrow. "And how would that be productive? Wouldn't it have been better to start back in Atlas?"

"As soon as I'd received the police report courtesy of your own contacts in the department, Oz, the very first thing I did was have those that had remained in Atlas start digging into what had happened. So far, they hadn't turned up much in the ways of actual evidence, but clearly something had gone… awry." James grunted now, his anger obvious.

"…What exactly did your men did or didn't find?" Glynda pressed.

The Atlas general turned to her slightly in his seat. "Apparently, the facility where production of the paladins takes place at had been transporting some of the prototypes to another facility of ours to be safely tested out – only for the transport that had been moving our latest prototype at the time to go missing."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "How did that happen?" He was referring not to how the paladin was stolen – people, when pressed, can come up with truly outlandish ways to accomplish whatever they set their minds to. Figuring out how the White Fang took the paladin would be helpful for possible future attempts, but right now the more important thing would be finding out how it'd taken this long James to hear of this in the first place.

"Our transports nowadays aren't operated by actual people," James began. "Rather, it's driven by autopilot. So, I can see that being interfered with in some form. However, whenever a transport leaves any of our facilities, our systems naturally log the move and calculate how long it should take for a transport to reach its intended destination. When it didn't arrive at the testing facility at its calculated time, emails had been sent to us… except we never received these emails." James' expression was more than a little grim. "Not only that, but these emails, clearly intercepted, were then somehow answered by someone else who was able to perfectly mimic everything that made it look official, saying that they'd look into it."

"…And so, the staff at your testing facility, not knowing any better, were placated and went back to their usual business," Glynda finished, her eyes wide. "A hacker… but how? Aren't your systems up to date, James?"

The general nodded stiffly. "All the time, Glynda. And whenever there is an update, there's always extensive checks done by our programmers to make sure any and all bugs the update has are sorted out or otherwise monitored. Whoever this hacker is, they're terrifyingly skilled and with considerable resources."

Ozpin fiddled with the hilt of his cane as he took this all in. "And so far, have you found anything about the hack?"

James shook his head. "Nothing yet. Like I just said, this hacker was very good at what they did. I've tasked an entire force of our own programmers to figure it out, but there won't be any answers for a while. In the meantime, all I can do is try to investigate things on this side. I've already dispatched Winter Schnee and her team to link up with the police that had arrived at the scene of the battle and will go from there once they've obtained whatever evidence had been collected."

"The White Fang, while formidable, has never had this kind of technical expertise before," Glynda started, looking to Ozpin now. Her normally stern features were now tinged with worry. "Do you think this isn't actually them?"

Ozpin grimaced. "Most likely, yes. Over the years, the White Fang has certainly grown in power and resources, but a hack of this level is certainly beyond them. Someone had lent them aid, for one reason or another."

James tensed. "Could it be the Queen somehow?"

"Possibly," Ozpin answered, now worried. Salem has always made it a point to get the most useful pawns possible over the centuries. He never quite figured out how she went about 'recruiting' her agents, but she'd always been able to successfully execute a myriad of strategies in her attempts to obtain the Relics and counter his own forces.

And in this day and age, where technology was ever advancing and rapidly, someone with such technical capabilities certainly wouldn't be out of the question for her to bring into her own circle.

That he hadn't considered such a possibility until now was something that made Ozpin almost want to berate himself, but lifetimes' worth of experience kept him from acting on his self-beration.

He was able to ease his worries almost immediately, however; if someone was attempting to get to Amber via hacking of all things then there wasn't really anything such a person could do from outside of Beacon. There was absolutely no paper or electronic trail of the injured Fall Maiden and the equipment and technology currently being used to keep her alive and monitor her ran on its own system. If someone wanted to try hacking it, they'd have to physically plug into the system.

Still, this didn't mean he could be lax anymore.

"Alright James," Ozpin said. "Perhaps you were right to bring in your fleet after all. We could certainly use all the help we can get now."

Indeed, with the variety of incidents going on, the headmaster of Beacon now began to suspect the possibility of an attack on either Vale itself or Beacon in particular. And not some small attack force utilizing guerilla tactics – no, he now began to fear a true full-scale attack.

His words caused James to perk up while Glynda visibly deflated, though she did seem a little more understanding too. "What are you planning, Oz?" James asked eagerly.

"As of right now, nothing in particular," he admitted. "While we now know much more than before, it's still not enough for us to definitively act on. If we commit ourselves too strongly to one course of action, we'll just risk spreading ourselves thin. For now, I'll support your specialists' investigations in whatever way I can. In the meantime, perhaps you could start moving your men around to protect the academy and as much of Vale as you can."

Glynda looked alarmed. "Ozpin, you don't mean to enact martial law, do you?!" Even James seemed surprised.

Ozpin quickly shook his head. "No, never. To do that would only worry the public and that would in turn start attracting the Grimm to our walls. That can't be allowed. We'll have to come up with something to tell the press – some good PR that will placate people and the council somewhat. Just make it look as if you're simply setting up earlier than usual to prepare for the Vytal Festival. In the meantime, try and have some of your forces work in plainclothes and patrol the city. We need to start being much more active now, but we also can't afford to tip our hand too obviously to whomever is out there."

James now hummed. "You mean to try suppressing future incidents before they can fully get out of hand. That's surprisingly bold of you, Oz… but alright, it's not like we have many options here."

It wasn't the most humane thing to do, to secretly police the kingdom like this, but things were so rarely black and white, Ozpin bitterly thought.

"Given that it's primarily been the White Fang and previously Torchwick behind these incidents," Glynda began as she folded her arms over her chest. "Do you believe eventually thwarting their cell will halt the Queen's plans?"

Ozpin shook his head. "I doubt it. While it's not inconceivable that she'd somehow gained a foothold in the White Fang, she has too strong a preference for using only a handful of agents to accomplish any one thing. At most, only one or two of her actual agents, whoever they may be, are the ones somehow behind these recent incidents. Stopping the White Fang would certainly make a noticeable difference, but until whoever the Queen had sent here to Vale is stopped, we should expect the White Fang cell to be nothing more than just a very large distraction."

"Still, taking down the current White Fang cell should disrupt whatever plans these agents have," James said. "Even if doing so will only inconvenience them a little, that would still be something we could use to our advantage…. And speaking on a somewhat related note…"

Ozpin and Glynda looked at the Atlas general in confusion.

"From what I've heard, it was two teams of first years had been involved in this incident – one team to deal with the fired missiles while the other dealt with the stolen prototype. Specifically, just one member of the team," James began, eyes twinkling with interest.

Ozpin sighed. He should have expected as much. After all, it was kind of hard to leave out how the paladin and subsequently the missiles fired were dealt with.

The only good thing was that he'd been able to leave out teams RWBY and JNPR's names. As far as the public knew, it was just two Beacon teams that had dealt with the situation, with the fact the teams were first-years only being mentioned within the police report itself.

And though team JNPR, when interviewed by the police and Glynda herself had said they'd taken down the paladin by working together, it had been obvious to any trained eye that looked upon the ruined paladin that that was a lie – it was obvious only one type of weapon had been used to primarily take down the paladin and Torchwick himself.

And three members of the four-man team had weapons that simply didn't match the evidence.

All of these details were jotted down in both the police report and in the personal report that Glynda had written up in the immediate aftermath of that day.

"Yes, that's correct, James. I take it you wish to know the names of those involved?" Ozpin did his best to not drawl out the words.

"Considering how much time and money went into making the paladins and how tough even the prototype had been reported to be by my R&D team, yes," James responded. "Whoever this person is, Oz, could be a very valuable asset."

At those words, Ozpin inwardly bristled but was unable to chastise his friend. After all, much to his own shame, he acted the same way, a sad result of his millennia long war against Salem.

That said, if it can be avoided, he would do his best to keep his students out of his schemes.

"James," Ozpin began. "As much as I understand what you may now be intending-."

"Oz, please," the general interrupted. "I know what you're thinking and I'm in agreement. Truly, I am. But a first-year trainee of all people possessing power great enough to take down a paladin isn't something that can be so easily dismissed! I'm not suggesting we pit this individual directly against the Queen and her own forces, but at the very least, they'd be able to help in protecting the Maidens!"

"Which is still the same thing," Glynda responded in Ozpin's stead, with a fierce glare. As stern a person she may be, she still cared greatly for all her students, no matter how much trouble they may cause. "The Queen and her forces are the only ones aside from us that know of the Maidens' existence. To use one of our students as a defense would be to pit them eventually against her forces. And now matter how impressive their power may certainly be, if power alone was all it took to successfully push back the Queen's forces, then we wouldn't be worrying about the Maiden's in the first place."

Indeed, the magic he had once granted those four dear women was certainly powerful, much more powerful than most things currently in existence. This hasn't stopped the Queen from amassing her own forces, all of whom were more than dangerous in their own ways, Ozpin thought. Just how many times have the Maidens been slain over the years in a vain attempt by others to gain their power? Even he's lost count, really.

Glynda made a good point… but sadly so did James.

It was important to never lose sight of what they were fighting for and of their own principles. However, if abiding by their codes of ethics and morality was all it took to win this seeming forever war, then Salem would've been defeated long ago.

His conscience and the greater good… both were in a very precarious balance. Focus too much on the former and the latter suffers. Do everything in the name of the latter and ignore the former, however, and he might as well be no different from Salem.

Thinking it over as Glynda and James began arguing, Ozpin eventually sighed and held up a hand, signaling for them to stop. "Let's compromise – I can't and won't just tell you the name of my student, much less approve of whatever exact plan you have in mind… yet." His stern gaze kept both of his allies from interrupting him. "I understand the significance here about the student's strength. Indeed, it's something I've been interested in too. So, this is what I propose – after the upcoming dance, the first years will be given their first missions. I will give the student and the rest of their team an appropriate mission to further test their strength whilst working towards a desirable goal. Depending on how things go from there will decide how we proceed regarding the student. Is that acceptable for now, James?"

The general nodded. "I'll take what I get," he answered. "Remember, old friend, I'm not doing this because I want per say… but in this hidden war of ours, we can't afford to be holding things too close to the vest."

"I'm well aware," Ozpin said tiredly.

His centuries, even millennia long fatigue must have shown through his expression, for James blinked a bit in surprise and proceeded to suddenly stand up. "…I'll take my leave. Have some paperwork to sort through before I can call it a day. Oz, Glynda, I'll see you both soon."

He then excused himself from the room before either of them could bid him a proper goodbye.

And approximately a few seconds after James left, Glynda rounded on Ozpin whilst remaining seated. "Ozpin, do you truly intend to put team JNPR through some insane mission?!" she hissed.

As dedicated as she is to combatting Salem alongside him and the others, she'd always been vehemently opposed to decisions that put the students at much unneeded risk.

Were there far better ways that previous situations could've been handled? Are there numerous other and better options that he could've picked from just now? Of course, always.

Alas, just because he has thousands of years of experience doing this didn't make him omniscient. It didn't mean he was always going to be able to make the right choice for every situation. A seemingly eternal existence didn't always bring with it knowledge or wisdom. If anything, it simply brought more and more stress and doubts.

It was so terribly easy to fall into a certain frame of mind and just stay there. It's something he's taken care to avoid doing, but it wasn't as if he had any frame of reference for his own situation so that he could avoid this issue.

All he could do was just remember why he was doing all this and do his best to balance it out against reality, a task that was far easier said than done.

"If I could spare them this, I would do so in a heartbeat, Glynda," he eventually answered. "But as you and I now well know, Mr. Arc's strength is certainly abnormal. We can only scarcely imagine why this is the case, but with our options dwindling, we must seek new allies to bring into the fold as needed. And sadly, I can't just go bringing only Mr. Arc into this without tipping him and his teammates off so early. Even in light of recent events, we have to make sure they're as ready as could be before we even think of proceeding any further with this."

"Even so…" Glynda began, only to trail off. She sighed tiredly. "It's bad enough you accepted Ms. Rose two whole years early just because of her silver eyes, you know."

"I know…"

He closed his eyes and massaged his temple with the fingers of his free hand. Indeed, how horrible it was to even think of using teens to potentially accomplish their goal of stopping Salem. But as he so vividly remembered from so long ago thanks to Jinn, he himself couldn't kill Salem… and at this point, only death was capable of stopping the woman from carrying out her crusade.

"…I'll be taking my own leave now," Glynda said as she stood up and brushed down the wrinkles of her skirt. She looked back at him with a strained look. "Now more than ever, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope so too…" he mumbled to himself as his deputy headmistress took her leave.

Leaving him alone with only his thoughts to keep him company.

* * *

Jaune sat there at the desk within the library. But rather than focus on the homework that was laid out directly before him, he instead focused on the others sitting around him.

Despite the events that had occurred only a few days ago, things had carried on as they normally do…. But only after he'd sat down team RWBY and told them of what exactly had transpired on his side of things during that day.

Naturally, this had included his defeat of the paladin as well as him killing Roman.

He'd anticipated reactions similar to his own team's. But to his surprise, reactions had been rather mixed coming from the all-girl team.

Ruby had been shocked, even horrified and had been in something of a funk since then, looking at him with almost curious eyes. However, there was no disgust or anger within her. In a way, her reaction felt like a much tamer version of Pyrrha's.

Weiss had been just as shocked to hear of what had happened, but at the time she'd schooled her expression into a small grimace and had remarked that it had had to be done. But it was clear that the fact Roman had died and at his hands no less was weighing on her mind even now. If he had to hazard a guess, it seemed to him that the heiress had been so focused on preparing just to even attend Beacon that it never really seemed to fully cross her mind the things that would be required of her should she become a huntress.

Blake's reaction had been the tamest of all his friends, having simply been in the form of a solemn but resolute nod when he'd first told her of what had happened. Her checkered past as a former member of the White Fang had inoculated her somewhat to the act of killing and so she'd perfectly understood. Indeed, she now seemed to often shoot him sympathetic glances, a sign of how much they now seemed to have in common.

And as for Yang, the blonde brawler had been the most extreme, though not in any way he'd initially been expecting. She'd recoiled as if slapped harshly and ever since then had been in a funk, much like her younger sister. The usual thrill-seeking nature she had was now very much subdued. Jaune would dare say she's become more introspective over the past few days, thoughtful even… not that she was never thoughtful before or anything.

All in all, team RWBY's reactions to the news was much tamer than his own teams,' but obviously it still hadn't quite been something that they were just completely comfortable with.

In any case, he was just thankful that he could still claim to have friends after what had happened. Of course, that didn't mean that everything was all hunky-dory now – even now, when both teams were supposed to be catching up on some homework for this week, just about all of them seemed distracted, including himself.

Jaune imagined it was more than just the events of a few days ago that was on their mind – surely, there was more gnawing at their minds, though he could only scarcely imagine what.

He, for one, certainly had a lot on his mind. Roman's death wasn't weighing too heavily on him – sadly, the now deceased thief wasn't the first he's had to kill… nor was it likely Roman would be the last – but what primarily occupied his thoughts was what would happen next with the White Fang.

He was under the assumption that Roman had been the main brain behind the Dust thefts the White Fang had been committing. So, now with the thief no longer in the picture, he had to question if this meant the Dust thefts would end too. Under other circumstances, he would think so, but something about that mute woman he'd gone up against strongly hinted at her having been directly affiliated with Roman, unlike the White Fang. With that in mind, would this woman perhaps try to continue the Dust thefts in Roman's place or would something else occur?

Moreover… would she attempt to seek revenge? If so, well, she wouldn't be the first one to do so. But would she be gunning directly for him? Or would she try going after his friends? The latter obviously worried him. Though certainly skilled and strong, his friends still weren't quite at the level needed to successfully repel the mute woman, assuming it was a one-on-one fight. But then again, having cut off her hand, perhaps the odds would be in their favor.

Of course, this was just nothing more than a mere thought, a 'what-if' that he prayed wouldn't come to pass but he knew better thanks to his years of experience.

He ran a hand across the sole scar on his face, tracing it slowly as memories of that day resurfaced.

…It was always so easy to think of 'what-ifs,' he thought. Far too easy. He really needed to stop that.

"Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha suddenly asked, rousing him from his thoughts.

"Yeah," he answered, moving his hand away from his scar in as natural a movement as he could manage. "Just trying to adjust to… well… everyday life again, I guess." He tried to smile sheepishly but wasn't sure he was pulling it off very well if the looks on his friends' faces were anything to go by now.

"Understandable," Weiss responded after a moment. "After all, I imagine it's not that easy to just shrug off… well, shrug off another's death. Even if it was the death of such a despicable thief."

Weiss wasn't entirely wrong, but she wasn't entirely right either. Nonetheless, Jaune accepted her words for what they were and nodded. Admittedly, even for him, it was rather surreal to just go from tracking down the White Fang to school life.

"Gah!" Ruby suddenly cried.

They all now looked at her in alarm and worry, her sudden cry having earned her the attention of numerous others in the library.

"What's wrong?" Jaune immediately questioned, his mind pushing aside all irrelevant thoughts now. All that mattered was Ruby's well-bein-!

"How can we all just be so awkward right now?!" the girl nearly exclaimed, ignoring the annoyed grimace of the nearby librarian.

There was a long moment of silence thereafter, however, which caused the librarian and the other students to lose interest in whatever was going on.

This gave both teams the time needed to just process what Ruby had said.

"Ruby, what do you-?" Pyrrha began.

"I-I mean!" the young leader started, only to stop. She tried to compose herself, taking in the deepest breath she could before continuing in a more controlled manner. "I mean… just a few days ago, we managed to stop those missiles from killing anyone… and while that was an awesome and fulfilling thing to do, as soon as we all find out what happened to Torchwick, whatever good feelings we were having just died out… and that's not right!"

Again, there was silence.

"That it's not right for us to be upset over Torchwick's death?" Blake now asked.

"Yes! No! I-I mean…!" Despite her best efforts, Ruby was struggling to figure out what to say. "I-I know that Torchwick was a bad man. Like, a _really_ bad man. He did knowingly fire those missiles after all. We all know that. And we all knew before even coming to Beacon that we were going to have fight not just Grimm but also plenty of bad people. But now that a bad person has finally died – and not even at our hands, really – we're all suddenly moping and second-guessing ourselves for the most part!"

Ruby looked to Jaune now, her silver eyes looking very troubled. It really made Jaune want to do or say something, but for once, the blond was at a complete loss on what to do. Instead, he could only remain seated and wait things out.

Ruby let out a long sigh as she finally looked away from him. "…It's not right that we're all focusing so much on this when we knew going in that this was going to eventually happen one way or another."

All of them started to make varying sounds of thought and disgruntlement.

Though very awkwardly worded, Jaune believed he understood what Ruby was getting at – just how could any of them become reliable huntresses and huntsmen when they're this affected by a single death and of an individual that no one in their right minds would think of as a good person?

"How can we be heroes," Ruby continued. "If we're going to be like this after every single hard choice? How would we be able to even function?"

Jaune hummed quietly. His guess had been right, more or less.

And indeed, Ruby made an excellent point. Again, killing was not always the answer, but if it came down to a choice between sparing an unrepentant criminal like Roman or saving the innocent, the choice should be a complete no-brainer. These were not choices meant to be made by the softest of hearts who'd agonize over it in the place. It was alright to be affected, but never to the point of questioning whether it was worth it.

It was a lesson he's subconsciously learned long ago. And now, it was a lesson the others were now being taught for the most part.

"That… you've a point there," Weiss said.

Blake, much like Jaune, hadn't been too particularly bothered, but nonetheless she nodded firmly in agreement. "It's very true. We can't afford to hesitate and worry over what could've been done after the fact."

Yang huffed. "Well, killing for any reason still won't sit well with me… but yeah, I know what you mean now." The blonde smiled wryly. "Heh, you've really been growing up, Rubes."

Ruby beamed and nodded, clearly glad she'd gotten through to them, it seemed.

"Indeed," Ren suddenly spoke up with a small smile.

"Mhm!" Nora was much more chipper now.

Pyrrha didn't say anything nor made any real sound of agreement, but she did look to Jaune and as she did so, her eyes took on a softer quality, as if apologizing to him.

Jaune, for his part, merely waved it off though not without gratitude. Though he and his team had had their brief conversation immediately after the incident in the first place, this wasn't something he'd been expecting them to get over in just the span of a few days. The human mind simply didn't work that way.

Well, not a normal human mind, that is…

That aside, he was glad now. Even if they may never fully get over the impact that Roman's death had had on their psyche, they would certainly grow stronger because of it.

Still though… heroes, huh? He kind of wanted to chuckle bitterly at that word.

The residents back in that section of Vale, such as Patrice and the others, had certainly had no problem thanking them for looking out for their safety and preventing what could've been a horrific tragedy, but even though they'd been hailed as their saviors, it hadn't done much for Jaune himself.

It wasn't the first time he'd been called a hero, after all. But even though the praise certainly felt good, a hero was the last thing he felt like.

After all, a slave couldn't be a hero if they were being essentially forced into the role. Even if his heart was in it… just how much of this was truly of his own free will?

This was an existential question that by all rights should be breaking him down… yet it wasn't.

Yet another sign of his warped mind. The very fact that this simultaneously didn't bother him yet fueled his drive to find a genuine purpose in life and have some sense of normalcy was an additional indicator of his broken state.

No matter. He will stay the course.

If nothing else, he owed his family that much.

So, even as he and his friends steadily began to relax and get into the proper groove of focusing on their school work for now, he plotted over what to do next.

Evil never rests, after all. So, there's little reason why he should rest either.

* * *

Tukson hummed, genuinely relaxed as of now.

The news that Roman Torchwick of all people had died had done wonders for his initially worried state of mind. Though he may have promised Blake and her friends to do his best to aid them, he'd been more than a little concerned over how things would ultimately turn out.

There was no questioning over him wanting to stop the White Fang. What did hold him back a bit was whether or not they'd actually had a chance of achieving just that.

But upon hearing Torchwick having bit the dust and with the realization that the White Fang cell here in Vale may have subsequently been screwed out of a lot of Dust had been a real eye-opener for him.

Even though their names had been unknown according to the news outlets, Tukson knew for a fact Blake and the others had been the ones responsible for what had happened. That they have proven their capabilities had been a true but all too welcome surprise.

And now that he was fully set up within his little safehouse here, he'd been able to get to work with absolutely nothing to hold back.

Now, there'd been some bumps here and there along the way – much to his surprise, the White Fang have changed up what frequencies they usually utilized – but it hadn't been anything he couldn't handle.

So far, he hasn't learned anything of any real use to him and the others. That said, if he was being honest with himself, listening to his former comrades practically shit themselves over all the recent craziness in Vale was honestly pretty damn enjoyable. Considering just how xenophobic and arrogant many within the organization had become, hearing them all shocked and even scared was a nice chance of pace.

But he was digressing here.

Over the past few days since the death of Torchwick, he's picked up some bits and pieces of info as he monitored the new frequencies. He's also reached out to his informants to see if they could perhaps find out anything that wasn't being aired over the radios. He was now expecting to hear back from them within the next week or so.

He was looking forward to what his informants may have to say, for nothing of any real note was being said over the frequencies he was monitoring daily. Just about the only useful info he picked up was just how much of the equipment the White Fang cell Torchwick had been working with had left behind during their haste to get the hell out of dodge.

It had been substantial, what with having to keep that paladin they'd somehow gotten their hands on properly maintained, so if they were going to try obtaining another one, they would also have to get the necessary equipment again to keep it in working order. So that was yet another blow Blake and co. had dealt to them.

This news had also done wonders for his mood, but as of earlier today, the same White Fang members that had been all but losing their shit over these recent losses had started to sound less panicked and more antsy now about something else that was apparently coming up now.

Obviously, that had gotten his attention and Tukson had wasted no time tinkering with his own tech to see if he could hack any other secured frequencies that might be in use right now.

Unfortunately, he had no luck. Looks like the powers that be had been steadily improving their own cyber security since his departure from the organization. A minor annoyance at best.

Feeling like this might be a fun little challenge, Tukson prepared to really hunker down and see if he couldn't get past their new cyber defenses – only for one of his many burner scrolls to start ringing.

One of his informants, no doubt. Why else would a burner scroll be ringing?

Still, it was a major oddity – he'd told them to report within a week or two. That one of them was now contacting him was definitely strange since they were normally very punctual.

"What happened?" he asked as soon as he answered the scroll.

The voice on the other end of the line was absolutely impossible to understand; the informant was practically blubbering like a baby. Such was the level of panic the person was in.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Tukson hissed, not sure if his informant would've been careful enough to avoid being overheard in his current state of mind. "Deep breaths now, come on man… good, good. better? Now… what happened? Why the sudden ca-."

His informant, much more composed though still scared shitless, interrupted him.

And what he said caused Tukson to freeze in place. The only motion he made was his grip going slack, causing the burner to nearly fall out of his hand.

"How soon?!" Tukson asked after finding his voice a few seconds later. "And who else is he bringing?!"

His informant, unfortunately, didn't have much other info to give him but vowed to keep an ear to the ground in order to learn whatever else he could learn over the next few days.

Tukson thanked the man and they both hung up. Immediately thereafter, the puma Faunus practically chucked the burner scroll aside and collapsed into his chair, his mind working a million miles a minute yet with his body not quite able to act on the fresh intel just yet.

But one thing he did know for certain he had to do soon was to let Blake know what was going to happen next-.

Adam Taurus was coming to Vale. He was going to be bringing a lot more men with him too.

And he'll be arriving in just a few days time.

* * *

 **As you can all tell, Jaune's thoughts there near the very end of his section are more than a little jumbled – and with good reason. As I'm sure you can all guess, he's not exactly normal when it comes to how his mind functions, something that I hope I'm showcasing well with how bipolar his thoughts seem to be sometimes.**

 **This will soon be relevant and perhaps not in ways any of you may be now thinking of.**

 **Now, that said, from here on out, things will truly begin to pick up in pace as numerous forces begin to encroach upon Vale and Beacon for real. And soon enough as well, the battles will become bigger and more epic in scale. If you thought my version of Neo was even more skillful/powerful than the canon version, just wait until you see who else will be getting some upgrades, ha ha.**

 **Ah, but again, do keep in mind that the next chapter may or may not be out later than usual – though I now have a better idea than before on how to begin my next original novel, I'm not sure just yet if I should start it now or hold off on it a little longer. Hope you guys understand!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	19. Chapter 19

Alright, so just as I said I would, I started my next original novel! So, just as I also said in the last An, what this means is that just like before, I will be alternating writing chapters for my novel and this fic. Naturally, this means it may take a little longer than usual for chapters to be posted here. How much longer, I honestly can't say – writing the first chapter for my new novel was honestly kind of rough at first but sped up once I got into the groove of things. As always, writing out beginnings is always a difficult thing to do for me, but hopefully once I fully establish the groundwork for this novel, writing it shouldn't be too difficult to do since I already have a solid enough idea of what I want to do with it.

Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know. If any of you are interested in said novel, it's actually the direct sequel to the one I just published a few months back. It's called **Infinite Genesis Book 1: Beginnings** , for those of you that may be interested in checking it out. You can find it on Apple bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon Kindle and other such sites. Link's in my profile page.

Oh, and I also have another book from a few years back, also available on these same sites titled **Fading Darkness, Rising Light**. It's very amateurish, but I would naturally love it if any of you guys bought it, ha ha.

Now, my shameless self-advertisement aside, the next few chapters will be focusing on things happening at Beacon, naturally building up to what could be considered an actual arc. That's when things will really be kicking into gear. Hope you will all look forward to it!

Chapter 19

Jaune grimaced inwardly, not out of any form of worry, but rather just out of a sense of pure discomfort.

He was out of his element here.

The 'here' in question being a dress shop, which he'd accompanied his team to.

He'd been so caught up thinking on what to do next in the wake of the paladin incident that he'd almost forgotten about an upcoming event that was close to be taking place very soon. That being the annual dance the academy held.

His friends had almost forgotten about it too until overhearing a conversation just earlier in between classes. He'd been in the process of helping a janitor – name was Derek, a really kind yet stern and fit old man – put up some new light bulbs in a hallway when his team as well as RWBY had heard a panicked talk between two girls over what kind of dress they should wear.

This in turn had prompted both teams, most of which were girls, to gape in shock at the realization of how close the dance was to happening and they had in turn vowed to go picking out dresses right after classes were done for the day.

And sure enough, right after combat class which had instead consisted of personal training rather than sparring, the girls had quickly showered and changed before dragging each other along into Vale.

Hence his current situation, that being him stuck in a rather large and pricey dress shop in the more upscale part of Vale's shopping district.

Dressed in his usual clothes with his swords at his side, he certainly stood out due to the multitude of colorful dresses contrasting with his dark clothes. Combined with the fact that he and Ren were perhaps two of several men currently in the shop right now, he definitely felt awkward.

His one solace in all this was that Ruby and Blake were just as uncomfortable as he and Ren were in this place, though his fellow leader was uncomfortable due to her being an inherently awkward person whereas Blake didn't have that vested an interest in the dance to begin with, what with being an avid book reader and all that. That, and the clearly pristine and pricey nature of this shop clashed with her more down-to-earth sensibilities, which Jaune could relate to.

"How many dresses have they gone through so far?" Ren suddenly mumbled, holding up a small stack of dresses that Nora had enthusiastically looked at and tried on. His partner, bubbly as always, had put just as much energy into finding the perfect dress as she did in fighting, which wasn't a good sign for Jaune's sole male teammate.

The blond leader, for his part, was spared from suffering a similar fate, primarily because as soon as they'd even entered the store, he automatically went about doing what he did best – helping people. Already, he'd assisted an overworked sales rep with moving huge stacks of clothes elsewhere as well as moving around some clothes racks to make more walking space amongst other things.

Jaune did this primarily because it was just in his nature to be helpful, his semblance notwithstanding. But he also did this partially because he's had experience doing what Ren was currently doing before – having seven sisters can prepare a man for a lot of feminine related issues, some of which he had no desire to repeat anymore. Not even his willpower was great enough to withstand serving as a human clothing rack and pack mule for hours upon hours in one go.

He understood on a purely intellectual level the desire and even need to look one's best, but spending hours or even days agonizing over this and spending so much time and money was just something that even boggled his mind.

With all this in mind, he looked to Ren in genuine sympathy and patted his shoulder. "You don't want to know the answer to that," he said emphatically. "If you kept track of how many they've tried on and just how many more they're going to look at… I'm afraid your mind might break."

Ren looked at him with something akin to horror in responses to those words, but then sighed and resigned himself. "I'll take your word for it."

"Jaune, help!" Ruby cried out as she came out of the nearest dressing room, wearing an all-black and conservative dress, wobbling out without her shoes on. With the way she was nearly tearing up and her upper lip was quivering, she was the human version of a suffering puppy. "Yang wants me to try on even more dresses! You gotta save me!"

"Oh no you don't, Rubes!" Yang called out, partially undressed as she appeared from the dressing room and grabbed the quivering Ruby. Ren blushed at the blonde's state of undress and looked away. Jaune had no reaction at all. "After everything we've been through these past few weeks, you're going to this dance and you're going to enjoy yourself and that's final! That's my command as your big sis!"

Ruby let out a shrill and pitiful cry as she was dragged back into the fold.

"Hmph! To think you've been acting so much more like a leader recently only to now act like a spoiled child!" Weiss said loudly, clearly nonplussed by Ruby's attitude. "If only everyone else could see this – they'd laugh at the contrast here! Now quite squirming and let me measure you for this next dress!"

"Noooo!"

"Ruby, come on, just roll with it. Not like I had much choice either, but at least I'm taking it gracefully," quipped a somewhat bemused Blake.

"…Poor Ruby," Jaune uttered after a moment.

Ren merely nodded in agreement. "At least our partners have been far quieter and more composed in comparison… and I can't believe I just said that about Nora."

Jaune allowed himself a slight chuckle. Yeah, calling Nora quiet or composed wasn't exactly something one could do all that often.

"Here, Ren~ Found another one that looked good on me if I do say so myself! So just hold onto it for now and I'll compare them all later~" said Nora in the follow moment, popping out of her dressing room fully dressed and plopped an orange strapless gown on top of the growing pile Ren had in his arms before he even said or did anything.

Ren waited a split second before looking back to Jaune. "Can you please help me? Even just a little would be forever appreciated."

"…Oh, I think someone needs help moving some boxes around," Jaune replied, pointedly looking away.

"Are you not a hero?" Ren quipped, utterly aghast for once.

"Ren, like I said a moment ago, trust me. This is an essential skill you're going to need in the future. Growing up with seven sisters has taught me this much," Jaune said before quickly stepping away before Ren could further protest.

He could practically feel the teen weakly glare at him from behind as he walked away.

It was enough to make him feel just slightly bad, but not enough to change course; he really hadn't been lying when he said someone needed help moving some boxes. "Excuse me, I could handle that for you," he spoke up to a mature and attractive woman with dark green hair.

"O-Oh! You don't have to…" she began, having not expected anyone to suddenly approach her like this.

He shook his head and smiled softly. "It's fine, I don't mind it. I'm waiting for some friends to finish up anyways." Then without another word spoken, he effortlessly lifted up the stack of boxes the clearly tired woman had been struggling with and gently asked her where they were to go.

Obviously, customers weren't supposed to just be helping the store's staff all willy-nilly like this, much less to the point where they could go into the backrooms for any reason, but within the time he's been here so far, thanks to his small initial efforts, the store staff had gotten quite comfortable around him and naturally word of him helping had spread to the other staff that haven't met him yet. Hence why the woman's protests had been so weak.

As he put the boxes in the nearest backroom and stacked them in the order given by the woman, the woman proceeded to make some small talk with him, clearly in a chipper mood at having a helping hand right now.

Though rather quiet by nature, he did his best to respond and hold a conversation with her. Jaune felt he was doing a good enough job at that, if nothing else.

Until near the end of their conversation.

"Heh, I bet your helpfulness really turns your girlfriend on, eh?" the woman teased, now in a much more relaxed mood.

Her words were enough to make him twitch, but thankfully she didn't seem to notice. "Ah…" Jaune began. "I'm not in a relationship, actually."

"Oh? Really, with absolutely none of those girls that you and your buddy came in with?"

He shook his head. "No, no, we're all just good friends."

"Huh. Well, if you're on the market, I've quite a few friends a bit closer to your age that could use such a strong and kind man like you," the woman said with a smile.

He did his best to return the smile. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

After this, she thanked him again for the help and he returned back into the store's main floor, watching without paying any real attention to the steady stream of customers milling about. Looks like a lot of the female students from Beacon were here today in preparation for the dance.

"They really take it seriously…" he mumbled to himself, unconsciously reaching out and grabbing an energetic girl that had been running around nearby. His sudden grab of her kept her from falling just as she'd tripped over her own shoelaces and in one fluid motion, he gently spun her around and pushed her back towards her mother.

As this was an unconscious motion on his part, he was unaware of the girl's and her mother's startled looks and instead made his way back to where Ren was at.

A relationship, huh…? He supposed that would be a wonderful thing to have. It would certainly make his family very happy to know he was with someone; it'd mean he was making progress on his quest to be more like everyone else.

And considering his own self-imposed journey in finding a true purpose to guide him, Jaune supposed it would be nice to eventually meet someone and settle down with them… but as of right now, he couldn't even remotely fathom such a thing happening at all.

He was still too broken and screwed up an individual to be a genuinely good boyfriend to anyone. For one thing, he had a hard time feeling genuine attraction to anyone – he was fully capable of acknowledging women's and even men's physical attractiveness as well as the attractiveness of their personalities but things such as love and lust were not emotions he really felt all that much.

For another, even if he ever did meet someone who could inspire such feelings in him, there was still an all too likely chance he'd be too much of a slave to his own semblance to be able to truly commit to a potential relationship. Indeed, it would be doomed to fail from the moment it started and that wouldn't be fair to the other person.

"…" He made a sound that once again couldn't really be described in any one word, but he was introspective enough to know that what he was currently feeling wasn't anything particularly positive.

He understood that events such as this upcoming dance were meant to be very special occasions, where special and happy memories would be made that would be forever treasured by people. He understood this. He's seen in happen plenty of times in movies and he's been there whenever his sisters had come home from a date or other event that left them captivated in a sense of wonder.

He understood this on an intellectual level… but it was something he's never once experienced before.

"Jaune…? You alright?" Ren called out to him when he spotted the him approaching again. His emotions must be showing on his face.

"Yeah," Jaune answered after a second's lag. "Just daydreaming is all."

Ren didn't buy that for a single instance and he made this obvious. Jaune pointedly ignored his friend's look and stood against the nearest wall before folding his arms across his chest.

He recalled the last time he and his friends had even spoken about the dance. And in doing so, he remembered well how bothered some of them, particularly Yang, had looked when his disinterest had become apparent.

This memory was enough to make him worry a bit. With everyone either in high spirits or antsy right now regarding the upcoming dance, he wondered just how the others would react to finding out the depths of his almost unnatural disinterest in it and all things even remotely associated with it and it was enough to make him tense up a bit.

Making them worry or upset at him over something like this wouldn't do at all. But what could he possibly do to address this issue? Hell, should he even address this in the first place? After all, was it really that uncommon for someone to not be interested in things like this?

…No, that wasn't it, he realized.

It was one thing for someone to just not be interested in dances and whatnot, but the thing is, he would like to go to the dance if only to watch from the sidelines and yet… yet he couldn't even bring himself to do that much. Instead he was feeling literally compelled to patrol the academy grounds on his lonesome rather than dance.

He sighed.

He understood logically what was going on, but acting on it, well, that was easier said than done.

His thoughts were interrupted – mercifully so – as Pyrrha and Nora exited their dressing rooms, once more dressed in their usual outfits. As soon as they stepped out and away from the dressing rooms, impatient customers that had been eyeing the rooms from nearby practically lunged right into said dressing rooms.

"All done?" Jaune asked, doing his best to sound neutral.

"It would seem that way, yes," Pyrrha replied with a somewhat apologetic smile. "I at least found a dress I'm interested in getting. How about you, Nora?"

"Same," the auburn-haired girl replied with an almost smug smile. "Finally found a dress that would show off my brilliance as queen!" She puffed her chest out proudly as she placed her hands on her hips, looking for all the world as if she'd just obtained a holy grail.

It was enough to make Jaune smile a bit in amusement, feeling himself get distracted. It helped too that Ren put little effort into hiding his relief. "Wonderful, which one did you ge-?" the teen began.

"Ah, ah, ah~" Nora interrupted playfully as she hoisted up her small pile of dresses. "To tell you would be spoiling, Renny! You're going to have to wait just like everyone else to gaze upon my magnificent self!"

"Ah but of course," Ren snarked back, bemused. "How silly of this humble servant to even think of such a thing."

Pyrrha laughed at their interaction as she usually did. "I take it the two of you will be going together then?"

"Of course," Ren replied immediately.

"Mhm!" Nora affirmed chipperly.

Somedays, Jaune thought, he really had to admire the bond the N and R of his team had. They may not be 'together-together' as Nora had once put it, but it was obvious to anyone that nonetheless they had a very close relationship.

But if they were going together then…

"What about you, Pyrrha?" Jaune now asked, mildly curious. "Do you have a date to the dance?"

At his words, the redhead's expression went through several rapid changes before settling on a rather troubled expression that she tried to cover up. "A-Ah, no, uhm…" She trailed off.

Jaune looked on in confusion. "Has no one asked you to the dance?" He was thoroughly bewildered.

"…No…"

"…How can that be?" he murmured. "You're a great person."

Pyrrha's face turned a little red, much to his confusion. He was only even more confused when Nora and Ren looked at him oddly. Even some of the nearby shoppers who'd apparently been looking their way for whatever reason – how come they were all staring at him in particular though? – looked bemused by what he'd said.

"Pyrrha…?" he began.

"N-No, it's nothing!" she stuttered out quickly, smiling again though forcedly. "Now come on, we should go pay before the lines for the registers start getting too long!"

Only able to blink in response, Jaune merely nodded and silently followed after Pyrrha and Nora, both of whom took the lead. Beside him, Ren glanced at him in mild annoyance.

For the remainder of the day, Jaune was left befuddled.

He and his team also unintentionally forgot about their sister team too.

"W-Wait!" cried out a shrill Ruby. "Don't abandon me, Jaune, please doonnn't!"

"Enough of your attitude! No partner of mine is going to a dance dressed like some cheap buffoon! Now stay still while I get this corset tightened properly!"

"Heh, hang in there, sis! Our little dress show has only just begun!"

"Just give it up, Ruby. There's no shame in surrender sometimes."

"Traitors, all of youuuu!"

And so, the rest of the day would pass by for teams JNPR and RWBY uneventfully.

* * *

Cinder eyed what she held in her left hand almost cautiously, as if expecting it to suddenly blow up in her face and leave her scarred.

In her other hand was her scroll, currently in the midst of a video call. On the other end of it was none other than the man she perhaps hated the most in this world – Arthur Watts himself.

"Is… is this really it?" she asked hesitantly. She hadn't meant to sound this way, but how could she not when looking at something so utterly unimpressive – it looked almost like a single button remote, the kind of thing that could be easily lost if it fell out of a pocket.

"Indeed it is," came Watts' reply, the man grimacing in an exaggerated fashion at her caution, his mustache moving about as he did so. "Really now, Cinder, I know we don't exactly have the strongest of bonds, but do you believe in my skill so little?"

She did her best to not huff in response. "Hardly, as much as it pains me to admit… but that said, even when taking into account the need to be stealthy, this seems too plain a thing. I'm half expecting to unlock a house's garage door once I press this button."

Watts actually chuckled a bit at her words. "A joke of all things. I suppose you can surprise me if you really try… but no, it is exactly what you seek to do what you need to do."

"And how exactly does it work?" she asked as she took a seat. Nearby were Emerald and Mercury, also seated and shifting anxiously in their spots. Normally, she'd have them well away from her whenever she made calls like this, but she felt she just might have some need of them again and doing things this way would spare her the trouble of regurgitating whatever info Watts told her.

Besides, if they were to continue proving their usefulness to her, it was inevitable that they'd eventually meet the others. Better to just start this now and get it over with. It wasn't as if either one of her subordinates actually had it in them to up and run – not that it would matter for long if they did try.

"Even though parts of Beacon run on an intranet, it still functions similarly to how an extranet works. This device, once the button is clicked, can send out waves capable of intercepting the signals the intranet sends out to its relevant systems. It already has the virus installed, so once intercepted, the virus will be uploaded and you can carry on with whatever you have planned afterwards," Watts explained.

Cinder was certain there was more to it than just that, but it was best to save some time on all the technical aspects. So long as it did what she needed it to do, she could live with this obviously dummied down explanation Watts just gave.

"How close do I need to be in order for this device to work?" she then asked.

"Not particularly close – I'd say if you can just make it to the edge of the academy's ground, that would be more than good enough to activate my device and let it do its work."

"And from there on, how can I actually manipulate the system?"

"Just sync my device with your scroll – and no, it won't infect your scroll," Watts stated, looking annoyed by what must have been a grim frown on her face. "After doing so and uploading the virus to Beacon's CCT system and intranet, you'll be able to get access to whatever information their servers have, including whatever clues they may have left in regards to the Fall Maiden."

"Hmph, well, I suppose there's only one way to find out about that," she muttered. "And this is something not even Atlas will be able to detect?"

"Most definitely!" The man now looked and sounded positively angry by what she may have implied there. "My brilliant work is far beyond what any of their scanners can pick up!"

This time, Cinder smirked a bit. "I repeat – there's only one way to find out about that."

Watts sneered at her words and then took a minute to regain his composure. "Do remember, Cinder, that getting close enough for my device to work would mean it's time for you to do some legwork of your own. If it – somehow – fails, it is no fault of mine but your own for not getting close enough."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I certainly hope you do, considering how drastically things have been changing in Vale from what I've seen," he quipped in immediate response, causing her to grimace. "Oh but do remember this – whether you succeed or fail, you still owe me one, Cinder. And like I said before, I do intend to collect one day. Until then."

Watts ended the call before she could get any word in, edgewise. Rather than huff childishly about it, she instead pocketed her scroll and studied the small and sleek device once more.

Watts better mean he'd said, she thought.

"So," spoke up a somewhat nervous Emerald, but there was more than a hint of eagerness to her voice now. She no doubt saw this as a chance to get back into her good graces. The teal-haired criminal was predictable like that. "What now?"

Cinder inwardly sighed as she sought to calm herself and proceeded to pocket the device as well, careful not to drop it, not that she was really expecting it to break that easily if something did happen to it.

"With us having no need of the White Fang any longer, consider us three to once more be functioning on our own. What we shall now do is dreadfully simple – in a week's time, Beacon will be having their annual dance. We will wait an hour after the doors to the dance hall open so that their little event will be in full swing and that will be when we make our approach. As you no doubt heard, we only need to get to Beacon's ground in general for us to upload the virus. After that, we'll retreat and head for a new place to settle down in for a while."

"But what about the Atlas military?" Mercury asked as he sat up straight in his seat. "Aren't they going to be patrolling the grounds?"

"That they will," Cinder confirmed. She then looked to Emerald. "And I would hope that won't pose a problem for you, yes?" Naturally, she was referring to the girl's semblance.

Said girl nodded all too eagerly. "No problem at all!"

Cinder hummed in approval. If nothing else, it was kind of nice to have such an obedient little pet. "As for the Grimm we will no doubt encounter along the way, we'll be doing our best to sneak past them. If failing that, we kill them quickly and move on. I will absolutely not tolerate this being ruined because either of you took too long to kill a mere Beowulf or Ursa before it could make too much noise."

She called on the portion of the Maiden power she had, making her eyes light up slightly. In the time she's come to master this power, it's proven to be effective at intimidating others.

Emerald and Mercury were no exceptions to this established rule, the two of them unconsciously sweating now.

"Right," Mercury mumbled, answering for both him and Emerald. "So, how far away are we going to be touching down?"

"Approximately five miles away from the edge of Beacon's cliffs. By that time, it'll be dark and Atlas will only be keeping an eye out for anything that's particularly close to their established perimeter – everything five miles out might as well not exist to them so long as we remain alert." Cinder stood up now, feeling almost emboldened. It felt good to finally have something that may properly go according to plan again. "Once this is accomplished, we'll begin digging through whatever data we will obtain to locate where exactly the Fall Maiden is residing. From there, we'll plan out how best to go about getting to her and finishing her off properly this time."

"U-Uhm, but what about the rest of the original plan, ma'am?" Emerald voiced. "You know, the whole train thing and using the Vytal Festival as a stage for our final phase…"

"Again, we'll no longer be working with the White Fang," Cinder explained. "With Roman dead and the White Fang cell currently left running around in disarray, there's not much point in continuing that avenue of attack. Same thing naturally goes for what I'd initially had planned since it'd been reliant on the train causing a breach in the first place."

"Then doesn't that mean we're basically leaving Vale fully intact afterwards?" Mercury asked.

"Possibly. Depending on the circumstances afterwards, that may very well be the case," Cinder admitted. "But the Maiden power takes precedence. To leave Vale without the full power of the Fall Maiden would be far greater a shame than anything else so far. Bringing Vale low, as fulfilling as that would be, will always take second priority to that. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, go, both of you. Start scoping out all possible routes from Vale to Beacon. It never hurts to have some backup plans, after all. And I refuse to be caught flatfooted again."

"What about you, ma'am?" Emerald asked as she and Mercury got up.

"I've another matter to attend to, one that may directly relate to our upcoming operation," Cinder replied, thinking of Neo. Ever since their little 'chat' following Roman's death, the of them hadn't quite been in contact. It was now time to amend that; the diminutive and angry young woman may come in handy during this newly formed operation, what with her vendetta and all that.

While it may seem like this new plan may go off without a hitch, she's learned from the recent failures that it was no longer safe at all to leaving even a single thing to chance. This Jaune Arc who's interfered so briefly yet so spectacularly thus far must be dealt with before he could somehow stumble upon and ruin this new operation too.

That meant now was as good a time as any to let Neo off the figurative leash she'd placed on the woman.

Whether or not the woman would actually succeed at killing Arc was irrelevant, really – if this young man was powerful, skilled or just flat out lucky enough to disrupt the docks operation and later take down the paladin and kill Roman, then Cinder highly doubted Neo would have the strength and skill needed to take him down. But better to keep him distracted long enough for her to do what needs to be done should such a chance encounter happen.

If he's killed, then great. But if not, well, if a chance is provided, Cinder will rid the world of him herself once she's obtained the entirety of the Fall Maiden power, a power that was rightfully hers.

"..Heh." She couldn't help but smirk at such a thought. After all the frustration Arc has unknowingly caused her, killing him herself would make for a nice bit of stress relief.

But she was willing to just leave things be so long as he's taken out of the equation one way or another. Unlike Neo, she was not so blinded by petty revenge as to risk her goals for it.

As Emerald and Mercury took their leave, Cinder pulled out her scroll once more and began typing a message to Neo's own burner scroll.

It was time for them to have a second little chat.

* * *

Even as she sat for long periods of time, Winter Schnee's posture remained perfectly upright and poised. Such was her dedication to maintain her image to those around her as that of a professional. It was something she took pride in. After all, having endured years of 'etiquette training' at the hands of the many tutors her 'dear' father had hired for her in addition to her time spent in the Atlas military, it was something to show for her efforts and effort was always something to be commended.

That said, even she felt the limits of her posture being tested now. That, and her temper.

Having sat through hours of scrounging through what evidence had been gathered from Vale's most notable recent incidents – the docks incident and especially the paladin incident – Winter had ultimately come up with little coherency between it all.

As a Schnee, she was more than familiar with how the White Fang operated ever since their radicalization and subsequent attacks against her family and the SDC in general. Her joining the Atlas military followed by her training had further compounded into her how exactly the White Fang did what they did – their tactics and usual methods and how to counter them, stuff of that nature.

And based off the docks incident, their methods were more or less like usual, just on a larger scale… but the same couldn't be said for the paladin incident. In order to have done what they did, it would've required a greater degree of technical expertise than anything they're demonstrated before. And it wasn't as if the location of the paladin production and testing facilities were advertised to anyone, meaning the terrorist organization would've also had to have found out where the facilities were as well as the route taken between the two before they could've gone and taken the paladin.

All in all, things weren't adding up and the divergence from their usual goals and tactics was enough to make the specialist's temper flare up a bit.

"Just what in the name of Remnant is going on…?" she murmured as she decided to call it quits for now. Examining evidence would only get so far.

Standing up and stretching out her tall form, she then contacted the agents via her comms unit. "How goes the search?"

"Nothing so far," came the immediate reply from her second in command, who'd been tasked with taking a handful of her squad to go and scour through the entire district the fight against the paladin had taken place in. "We've managed to track down where their base had once been, but nothing of any note was left behind as far as we can tell, just some equipment that had been used to maintain the paladin."

Inwardly, Winter sighed. "I see. Keep searching anyways. Turn over every last speck of dust if you have to and let me know the very second you find anything of note."

"Yes ma'am!"

Ending the transmission, Winter excused herself from the room, motioning for two of the men that had remained behind with her here at the precinct to head in and start putting away the evidence.

Yes, she was about done with it for now, she figured. Not much else can really be gleamed from it, so now it would just be a matter of waiting until her search team (hopefully) found something of note.

Other than that, all that can be done would be to up security for Vale as a whole along with the Vytal Festival, which was swiftly upcoming despite still being some months away if she recalled correctly.

As she exited the precinct, Winter took to trying to deduce what the White Fang may be up to next.

Having been working with Roman Torchwick – now deceased, she reminded herself – they'd apparently gathered up a significant amount of Dust, much more than what they would normally use to arm themselves. Combined with them having stolen a prototype paladin, it was clear they'd been gearing up for something big, but what exactly?

It was obvious that whatever it was would be some sort of 'statement,' something to grab everyone's attention and make them listen. But in what form would this 'statement' take place? With that much Dust, would they be trying to make bombs? Use it to power some new weapon they may have gotten their hands on? What about their target or targets? The Vytal Festival seemed like an obvious one, but there were more than a few council members that Winter could imagine being singled out by the White Fang. Blowing up their residences or cars wasn't something out of the picture just yet.

But perhaps… would they be targeting the entirety of Vale itself?

This thought made Winter pause in her walking, having been heading back to where she and the others were staying for the time being.

She grimaced at such a thought. "No… they don't that kind of manpower…" she muttered, trying to assure herself that things weren't _that_ bad.

They may have obtained a lot of Dust, but as far as anyone could tell, it was only one cell of the White Fang acting in Vale. Unless there were at least a dozen more going around stealing Dust from elsewhere, there's no way they'd have enough manpower and resources to launch an effective full-scale attack on Vale.

Normally such a thing was never done before by the organization, however; guerilla tactics were more their schtick. That Winter was even remotely entertaining such a terrifying notion went to show just how out of the norm this was.

And judging by what little they all knew so far, it was just one cell here in Vale.

Yes, by all rights, such an attack shouldn't be possible. She was merely being paranoid for some reason.

…

Sighing again, Winter activated her comms unit and contacted the support staff currently standing by to assist her team.

Even if it was just paranoia, better to be safe than sorry.

"Update our search parameters and radius – I want a full sweep of everything within the abandoned districts and beyond," she began, also making sure to request much more manpower in order to accomplish this.

She wasn't expecting this request to possibly go over that well with general Ironwood – it was rather uncharacteristic of her to be acting like this, after all. Even so, a feeling in her gut was now eating away at her from within.

And if there was one lesson that had been thoroughly drilled into her throughout her training, it was to never ignore one's gut feelings.

More often than not, said feelings turned out to be right.

And for not for the first time, Winter prayed this feeling was wrong.

* * *

Adam Taurus walked tall and proud as he surveyed the train's construction within Mount Glenn's underground city, long since abandoned and left to decay after the events of long ago.

It gnawed at him to know his men and himself were reduced to taking residence here in this human settlement, but for the sake of the White Fang, it had to be done.

"How is progress looking now?" he asked.

It's barely been a whole day since his impending arrival was announced, but the men he'd gathered up had actually arrived before he did, and he'd just barely gotten here.

Their task was simple – to assist in the prepping of the train.

"It goes well," spoke one of the men he'd put in charge, the dedicated Faunus taking a moment to dry the feathers protruding from his forearms, having been covered in sweat. "There were some bumps here and there… but now that we've smoothed out how to accommodate properly for the increase in manpower, we're making headway."

Adam nodded. "Good work. Keep at it."

"Yes sir!" spoke the man before returning to his tasks.

He then turned to his lieutenant, the burly chainsaw wielding man walking patiently by his side. "Has there been any noise coming from Cinder and her subordinates?"

"None so far – seems like our presence has gone unnoticed by her," came the reply in the lieutenant's deep voice.

"Good. Make sure it stays that way. I don't want that woman interfering anymore if at all possible."

He wasn't quite sure what Cinder thought of him and his men, but he guessed that her opinion of him wasn't particularly favorable.

Hmph, a foolish mistake on the human's part.

Contrary to what she likely thought of him, he was no fool, nor was he oblivious to what was going on outside of his own duties. He was well aware of what had occurred at the docks in Vale along with what had happened recently concerning the death of Torchwick.

That bastard human won't be missed. The paladin, however… well, it was a loss, but one he could do without, he supposed.

In any case, he knew that things weren't quite going to Cinder's little plan and this was why he'd decided to come here to the kingdom of Vale himself.

Cinder was intelligent, he'll give her that much, but also quite arrogant, especially ever since she'd gained that mysterious power, the one she'd used to coerce him and his men into joining her. While he was certain she'd come up with new schemes to account for the changes in the original plan, Adam was no longer interested in going along with whatever she may be thinking now.

Not that he'd ever actually been on her side, of course. From the very start, he'd only joined her because he'd initially had no other choice but getting rid of Cinder had always been the intention from the start. He'd merely been waiting for a good opportunity. He'll admit though that working with her had certainly resulted in an interesting surplus in certain resources as well as new avenues of attack against the kingdoms, so he supposed she had been good for something.

That said, it was now time for the White Fang to finally take over from here.

With the changes in her current plans, Cinder would probably abandon the idea of using the train to attack Vale – he knew she was after something much more specific than just taking down Vale. That meant that, if only for a time, the train would be left abandoned which in turn meant there would be a fair bit of time for him to take over and complete it on his own.

Which is what he was doing now.

While they didn't have quite as much Dust as he'd have liked, it was still more than sufficient in blowing open some holes in the surface where a number of Grimm milled about and the train should still have more than momentum and Dust to blow through Vale's wall anyways, so it could still work.

After that, it would just be a simple matter of sitting back to watch the carnage unfold. Then, in all that chaos, slipping in to attack specific targets would be easy enough to do.

However, that last part was something he was still unsure of for now. While it would be a prime opportunity, it wasn't as if the Grimm were going to just ignore him and his forces in favor of civilians and huntsmen. While he was more than confident that he and his men could deal with any Grimm that would be pouring into the city at that time, it would still interfere with their own matters, hence why he was uncertain on whether or not they should follow through on it.

In any case, he would have his men prepare for such a thing just in case it was feasible.

"How are the jammers working?" he suddenly asked his lieutenant as they continued their walk/inspection of the work area, numerous Faunus running around in the name of their cause.

"Working well. I guess that human that Cinder had also contacted in the very beginning really knew his stuff," commented the burly man.

Adam nodded. That was yet another thing that had been a surprising boon.

In the very beginning of their 'partnership,' Cinder had obtained some interesting little gadgets from a man that was never named, but they proved most useful indeed.

Though they were called jammers, they didn't quite work the way some would think. Rather than act as a sort of EMP that jammed all comms, it only scrambled the signals of those that may have been listening on the White Fang's often used frequencies, making it extremely difficult for any unwanted listeners to call up their own forces to pass on whatever they may have learned.

Whether or not people were actually listening on their comms, Adam knew not, but as long as said would-be spies were kept from talking, he could be at ease.

Even if they did find some way around these jammers, it wouldn't matter – by the time they did, it would likely already be too late to matter.

Normally wearing a stern frown on his face, Adam finally smiled and ferally at that too.

It wouldn't be long at all until the train was ready to be launched.

* * *

 **In case you start wondering why it seems like Tukson hasn't contacted Blake or Jaune just yet, I hope the ending there explains why. Basically, Watts had been told by Salem to provide Cinder some extra gadgets in the very beginning of it all, this being the jammers just mentioned. They may not prevent Tukson from listening on the White Fang's frequencies, but they do track and isolate whatever tech he uses to communicate with others and that includes his scrolls, so he's unable to call the others to warn them about Adam.**

 **Now before you also ask why doesn't he just go to Beacon, he can't just do that – without any way to get in contact with them, he has no idea where exactly Jaune and Blake are at at any given time and running around aimlessly isn't something he wants to risk since, as far as he knows, the White Fang and Cinder's group still intend to eventually kill him. Running around in public wouldn't exactly keep him safe in such a scenario, thus he stays hidden still.**

 **So yeah, hope that clears up any questions that might have popped up for you guys. And don't worry, none of what I just said was spoiling anything.**

 **Whelp, not much else to say other than to remind you yet again that since I'm working on my new novel, there will be longer stretches of time between updates for this. Please, keep that in mind.**

 **Now then, until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	20. Chapter 20

Sorry for the wait, everyone; the second chapter of my novel took longer than I thought to write, heh. Just kept on writing even when I probably should've ended it… but oh well, can edit it later, won't be that difficult to do.

Alright, so I went and watched Hobbs and Shaw recently too along with Crawl, have to say I thoroughly enjoyed both for what they were. The former was just as ridiculous as I'm sure we all had been expecting it to be, but still enjoyable nonetheless. And Crawl surprised me too with how good it was, even with the gators behaving drastically different from how they actually are in real life; had me feeling real worried for the MCs the whole time, especially with how nature itself had really been working against them, to say nothing of the crazy aggressive gators.

Other than that, still just been living one day at a time as far as life in general goes. Hope the same can be said for you guys too. So, yeah, same stuff, basically.

Now, as for this fic, I know I say this often but this is where things start to pick up in all sorts of ways… and we'll start getting to the parts that I've really been itching to write, ha ha. Hope you'll look forward to it, you guys!

Oh, and regarding the obvious impossibility of how Watts' technology works, I'm well aware that how it does things is truly impossible, but there's more going on than you think right now. I just hope my eventual explanation for it will be satisfactory.

Now then, onto the chapter!

P.S. Anyone else hyped as hell for the new Guilty Gear next year?!

Chapter 20

It never ceased to amaze Jaune just how quickly time could go by; in what had felt like the blink of an eye, the time for Beacon's dance had arrived.

Though it had yet to officially start per say, the team that had been put in charge of getting most of it set up – team CVFY – had already started to let fellow students trickle in, all of the girls dressed up in the dresses or gowns they'd gone through considerable pains to get whilst the guys had dressed up in their school uniforms, though there had been those that had gone out of their way to get a proper suit.

In either case, everyone had certainly looked splendid and while the dance had yet to really get underway just yet, people were already in high spirits, girls complimenting one another's dresses while guys huddled up and acted like bros. And thanks to the fact the Vytal Festival was being held here in Vale this time, there were plenty of students from the other academies milling about as well, having also gotten dressed up for the occasion, friendships swiftly forming between them all.

Truly, it was a sight to behold – it was sights like this, where everyone could be happy without a care that left Jaune feeling fulfilled, if only slightly.

And said sensation was dampened by a quick glance to his friends, that being his teammates and team RWBY.

Just the other day, Tukson had gotten into contact with Blake and had told her something that had really rankled the poor girl. It'd taken the better part of a whole day for her to really calm down and explain to them what had happened.

Adam Taurus, a high-ranking member of the White Fang and someone she'd once been personally acquainted with, was coming to Vale.

To say that had really grabbed their attention would be an understatement. Alas, it was also information that they couldn't really act on. His eventual arrival aside, there'd been absolutely no other details pending, so there was no way for them to take preemptive action.

This news had left the B of team RWBY more than a little shaken, but thanks to whatever revelations she's had ever since she's made up with her team following the docks incident, she was able to come around, so to speak. After all, if she hadn't, why else would she be here with her team at the dance? She was even laughing at something goofy that Sun, who'd arrived in an unbuttoned black dress shirt and a tie, had just said to her.

The rest of her team was looking pretty amused too, but there was no missing the underlying tension their bodies held, something that the blond felt rather ruined their collective and individual beauty, a true shame considering how beautiful their dresses were, even Ruby's despite the girl having been most vehement against dressing up in the first place.

The same could be said of his own team, though there was also a subtle hint of sadness and even disappointment as they looked back his way.

True to his word, he hadn't bothered dressing up for the dance at all, instead having dressed in his usual clothes after classes had let out a little early for the day. He'd instead escorted his team to the building's entrance, whereupon they'd practically been sucked up by the crowd against their will just as he'd slipped away.

The last thing he'd heard was Pyrrha calling out to him, but he'd ignored her. It hadn't been without effort, however, for his heart felt oddly heavy as he walked away.

"Sorry…" he murmured, childishly hoping the wind would somehow carry his apology to his partner and other teammates.

Sadly, he just couldn't bring himself to relax like everyone else. It just wasn't how he was all but literally programmed to act.

Jaune knew that once tonight was over, he'd really be getting a good lecture or two from his friends from skipping out like this even if they had known in advance he had no intention in coming… but he could tell from experience that it was one thing to know something intellectually and another thing to have whatever hope they'd felt be crushed.

He was supposed to be making people happy, not upsetting them. The bitter irony here was enough to get him to smile quite derisively, said derision aimed entirely at himself.

…Well, there wasn't much he could do at this point. Even if he could somehow bring himself to turn around and go to the dance, by the time he would even head back to his dorm to change into something more appropriate, the dance would be in full swing. He'd only end up interrupting the fun and that wouldn't do.

Thus, he resolved himself to his current objective: to patrol Beacon, just as he'd once stated he'd do. If nothing else, he was someone who tried to keep to his word.

Now, given that the Atlas military was also here in Vale, specifically at Beacon as well, there were already a number of soldiers patrolling the entire campus, many of whom took note of him walking about, dressed and armed, though they made no comment as he passed by.

In immediate hindsight, he really should've anticipated how many soldiers there'd be here – from what he's heard, general Ironwood was a vigilant man who could and would take all necessary precautions. Of course he'd station enough soldiers to keep things under control.

Sadly, while the more logical and human side of his brain said that things were all good and to finally just relax, the other side of him, the one ruled by his semblance and childhood desires, staunchly refused to listen to reason.

And so, he began his patrol in earnest.

Naturally, the outermost perimeter of the campus, the unofficial line that separated Beacon from the surrounding forestry, was already being patrolled quite heavily as was the CCT nearby. This left only the other buildings and facilities that made up Beacon unattended, but that was quite relative since Atlas soldiers were still visibly present. This was to say nothing of the staff that still remained behind for the night as well as the professors who were no doubt using this time to either catch up on other work or to relax.

Nonetheless, despite all this security, Jaune still felt unsure of things, paranoid even. As such, he made a beeline right for the main building, where the classrooms were at.

His presence didn't go unnoticed.

"Jaune, that you?" called out someone.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, it's me, Argo."

Argo, one of the relative few female janitors, was in the midst of emptying out the trash barrels outside the building's various entrances/exits. Fairly young – only in her mid-thirties compared to most of the other janitors here – she blinked and shook her head as if she couldn't believe she was seeing him, her chin length purple hair lightly whipping about in the process. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the dance?"

"Ah, it's not really my thing," he replied lamely. Wordlessly, he approached her and helped her heft up the trash bag she'd currently been clutching. Though the position of janitor was a physically demanding one that none of the janitors were lagging in, he still couldn't abide seeing her and the others struggle.

She blinked again but then laughed a bit in disbelief. "Sheesh, you really just don't stop helping, do you? You really need to learn to help yourself, you know that?"

"I do," he replied softly. "Trust me, I do."

She huffed as she and him put the trash bag in the moving cart she had nearby. "You could've fooled me. Seriously, this is a big dance, isn't it?! You should be in there tearing up the dance floor or making out with someone in one of the corners! Why, when I was around your age-!"

He laughed lightly as Argo went on a quick but energetic tirade about some of her escapades in her youth. She was quite the character. Everyone was, really. This was the main reason he liked interacting with people, his warped mindset aside – it was always interesting to see what sort of person someone was.

"-And damn it, you need to live a little! Go get laid!" she eventually finished.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take that under advisement," he responded neutrally, though with a hint of bemusement. He wasn't sure whoever came up with the notion that women were chaste and dainty, but whoever had first coined such a thing was clearly a moron.

And he should know – he has seven sisters, after all.

Argo huffed again. "Fine, fine, be that way!" She spoke almost angrily, but there was no missing the smile on her face. "Just try to unwind at least a little later tonight, alright? You're too young to be so serious."

"I'll try," he said truthfully, but knowing that he would very likely fail.

Bidding her goodbye, he entered the building while Argo left to check the other trash cans. As soon as he did and the door closed quietly behind him, his small smile immediately disappeared and a serious expression appeared on his face as he analyzed his surroundings.

Having been here for quite some time now, Beacon's hallways and facilities were known to him, but even then he looked upon the hallway and the rooms connected to it as if looking at them for the first time ever, this time with a most critical eye.

There may be plenty of soldiers patrolling about, to say nothing of the staff and professors, but even so, some part of his brain pondered over how likely the possibility was for someone to successfully attack Beacon right now.

Improbable, sure, but the fact it wasn't outright impossible was enough to now have him tense up. Despite still being unlocked for the time being, most of the lights had either been turned off completely or heavily dimmed, resulting in near-complete darkness.

Having gotten used to fighting in complete darkness whilst out on the frontier, he had no trouble seeing far ahead, but even so his muscles tensed up slightly, preparing to take action should something happen.

As he now began his patrol in earnest, he soon came upon the other janitors who'd been put in charge of cleaning up the places here that needed cleaning. They – Peter, Samson, and Janet – had bid him a quick but lively hello and he'd done the same though unlike with Argo, he didn't stick around to help them, primarily because they were well on their way out of here for the night, their current assignments just now finished.

"Don't go vandalizing anything, you hear?" one of them, Samson, said playfully, knowing full well Jaune would never do so. The four of them had a good laugh at that as they passed each other by, though the quick laugh hadn't helped settle him down.

Making his way through the first floor's rooms, trying the doorknobs to make sure each room was locked, Jaune fell into a sort of trance as he did so, his senses alert for anything even remotely unusual even as he almost mechanically went about this simple task.

He lost track of all sense of time. For all he knew, he could've somehow tried every door on the first floor in the span of a minute or it could've been hours.

All he knew was that every time he looked out a nearby window, it was getting progressively darker outside until it was truly nighttime.

"Hey! What're you doing here?!" someone called out – an Atlas soldier that just now rounded the corner Jaune had been heading for. He wasn't alone either, two other soldiers, a male and female, walking with him, both of whom looked at him curiously.

The one who'd spoken, however, had rather aggressive body language. He clearly saw Jaune as a potential threat. From the way his two comrades briefly looked at him with obvious exasperation under their helmets, it was clear they felt he was overreacting.

Jaune, on the contrary, could respect the man, quite liking him. While admittedly a bit much, such vigilance was something to admire.

"I'm just patrolling the campus grounds like you're doing," he replied. He made sure to keep his hands away from the hilts of his blades to show he wasn't a threat.

"When the dance is going on?" the other male of the trio asked, rather incredulous in tone.

"It's not really my thing…" Jaune mumbled, sounding embarrassed. Idly, he wondered just how many times he could end up having this conversation. "I prefer to move my body in other ways."

"Huh," the woman began. "Well, alright, I can respect that."

The first one, however, wasn't too quick to accept this. "How do we know you're not just saying that as an excuse?"

"Damn it, Caleb, learn to chill," the other guy said, annoyed. "If the kid really was a threat, pretty sure he wouldn't be walking around so openly like this when there's so many people on Beacon's grounds."

The first guy flinched a bit before huffing and walking past Jaune now. "Just try not to give anyone else a sudden spook, alright?" he said gruffly before walking off.

"Alright," Jaune confirmed, nodding in acknowledgement. The guy then nodded back before marching off, his two partners quickly catching up with him, giving Jaune apologetic looks as they went by him.

"…Perhaps tonight may actually be a quiet night," he said to himself once he was fully alone.

Although the night was hardly far from over, the fact that a solid hour or so had already passed by since he started patrolling in the first place had him wondering now if maybe this was the one time he was being too damned paranoid.

…

…

He sighed in resignation.

Even if this was the case, it was already too late to call it quits this early.

With a resolved yet weary heart, the blond continued his patrol.

Perhaps he should go by the CCT – that was an important place, after all…

* * *

"…Pretty damn nice here, ain't it? I mean, I guess it's chilly, but compared to back in Atlas…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man. Feels great here, should probably move here to Vale whenever I retire."

"With how shitty you are at shooting, retirement might be coming up sooner than expected for you, heh!"

"Ha ha, real funny, you wise ass…"

This inane conversation between two Atlas soldiers was what filled Cinder's ears as she and her three accomplices waited patiently just out of sight.

Once the two soldiers passed by and were out of earshot, she motioned for the others to move. And of course, due to her being the smallest and swiftest of them, she made Neo take point.

Sure enough, when she'd spoken to the small woman last time, just telling her of the possible opportunity to kill Jaune Arc had been more than enough to secure her help in this endeavor. Getting a bullhead from those damned White Fang had been even easier. Even their landing not too far away from Beacon's perimeter had been shockingly easy.

For once, it seemed like things were looking up for her again, but she didn't dare accept this boon so easily – after all, with how suddenly things had gone wrong for the docks operation, Emerald and Mercury's failed assassination attempt, and the recent paladin incident, things could clearly go wrong at the drop of a hat.

As such, with all of them dressed in black fatigues, slinking about was done with as much caution as they could pull off, with Neo at the forefront of their little formation thanks to her admittedly useful semblance. And with Emerald providing assistance via her own semblance, sneaking past the outermost perimeter established by Atlas' forces had been effortless.

However, now was the hard part.

They'd had the good fortune of being able to approach Beacon from the general direction where their CCT was at, meaning they didn't have to worry about covering too much ground in order to reach their destination.

Now, of course Cinder remembered what Watts had told her about his new invention – she honestly didn't have to get this close in order to ensure it did its sole duty, but again, she was done leaving things to chance; the closer she can safely get to her target before activating the device, the better.

That said, as expected, even from this distance, it was visible to her own two eyes that security was exceptionally tight around the CCT. Though the number of guards around it and no doubt inside were less than the number patrolling elsewhere, that was very much relative; they were still outnumbered by at least three to one.

No matter. With both Neo and Emerald, getting even closer will be easy. It wasn't as if any of them were lacking in subterfuge experience anyways.

"Emerald, get the attention of those three guards," she whispered.

"Got it," the teal-haired girl replied before narrowing her eyes, concentrating.

Cinder didn't know what sort of illusion the girl had placed the three guards in question under, but they seemed to suddenly jerk to something to their left. Some of the other guards took note of their sudden shift in posture and tensed up as well but stayed put while the three jogged off to go check on what they thought they'd seen or heard.

Even then, their attention clearly wasn't back on whatever it had been before.

With their formation disrupted for the moment, Cinder patted Neo on the shoulder, a silent gesture that meant to cover her up with her semblance.

The diminutive woman nodded and she waved a hand over Cinder. Cinder felt nothing off but trusted in Neo's ability to do this much with ease.

She then dashed forth with an almost supernatural silence through the large gap in the soldiers' formation, Neo's physical illusions allowing her to go by completely undetected.

Cinder made it all the way to the CCT building's entrance and slinked inside once the guards marching right outside passed on by.

Now safely inside, the woman allowed herself a quick sigh of relief. In all honesty, taking care of the soldiers would be child's play for her – even without using the half of the Maiden power she had, her strength and skill was well beyond what any Atlas soldier could deal with. But again, this was not a time to brute force things.

She wasn't _that_ desperate. But by Salem, if one more thing goes wrong for her somehow, then she won't hesitate to start frying people…

…Anyways, now inside, making her way to the room she sought was much easier. Cameras were easy to avoid and the Atlas soldiers inside here were even fewer in number than the ones that had been right outside.

With Neo, Mercury, and Emerald now on standby in the case things do suddenly go wrong, Cinder proceeded forth alone, not waiting for anyone or anything.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, she made her way up to the floor she needed to go to and promptly entered the room.

To her pleasant surprise, the room was empty.

This gave her just a second to breathe slowly, savoring what may very well be her comeback. She then took out the device Watts had given her and eyed it harshly, as if she were glaring at the man himself somehow.

Its sole button almost seemed to shine under the dim lights here in the room, as if tempting her to press it.

Obviously, she did just that.

Some small part of her, a part of her that she'd thought had died a very long time ago, was almost let down when nothing visibly happened. There was no successful beep, no alarm sounded, no ray of light suddenly spilling forth to signal a change of some kind.

It was just her standing here in this room still.

She waited a moment for something – anything – to happen.

Then, on a whim, she pulled out her scroll and started to toggle some things on it.

Now, she truly smiled.

Having synced her scroll with Watts' device just as he said to do well before even arriving here, she now saw that she had remote access to Beacon's servers and naturally by extension all the information said servers had.

Finally, success!

But she refused to indulge in this feeling of triumph – not yet, that is. First, she needed to get out of here. Only when she's made it back to her current base can she allow herself a brief period of relaxation before beginning what would undoubtedly be the tedious shifting through information in search of clues to Amber's whereabouts.

Putting away both the device and her scroll, she made her way back out even faster than she'd snuck in. Once she was about to exit through the building's main entrance/exit, she shot a silent message to Neo to prepare another illusion so that she may sneak back across.

Neo replied in the affirmative a split second later and Cinder waited a few seconds before almost boldly striding out into the open, all of the guards back at their previous positions, including the ones Emerald had initially distracted.

However, as soon as she even exited the CCT, Cinder immediately realized that just because the soldiers were all back in their initial positions, that didn't mean everything was back to exactly how it was before-.

-There.

Talking to one of the guards that was walking the outermost perimeter around the CCT was a blond teen, dressed primarily in black and with a diagonal scar on his face.

Even though this was the first time Cinder was actually seeing him, she instinctively knew who this was.

"Jaune Arc," she murmured to herself, as low in volume as could be to avoid detection.

The one who'd ruined the docks operation as well as the one who'd slain Roman and taken down the paladin, all on his own.

He was here…

…And in the midst of whatever conversation he was having with the guard, he suddenly turned and seemed to look directly at her.

Cinder's breath nearly hitched and she almost instinctively prepared for battle. A very brief look towards where her three accomplices were at showed her that they were preparing to battle their way out of here too if needed.

Only nothing came of it.

He just stared at her, confused. It took the woman much longer than it should've to remember Neo's semblance was still at work, hiding her in plain sight of literally everyone here.

Inwardly, Cinder hissed. She'd gotten Neo's help for this task with the almost explicit promise of a chance at vengeance. Cinder herself would love nothing more than to rid herself of the one who'd so quickly become a nuisance and disruption to her.

But alas, this wasn't the chance for either of them to act on such feelings.

While the guards individually wouldn't pose much problem, trying to take down Jaune Arc while so many of the guards were around would certainly be difficult, especially if she wished to continue concealing her status as a partial Maiden for the time being.

Furthermore, though she'd never say it aloud, Jaune Arc's strength was not something she wished to test under such unfavorable circumstances right now. Taking down a paladin, something that had been designed for the express purpose of combating the toughest of Grimm outside of the Leviathan classed ones, all by himself wasn't something she was sure she could take on even with help from Neo, Emerald and Mercury. Again, not in circumstances such as this, where the sounds of battle could practically summon forth all of Beacon's faculty and student body.

Plus… the sheer intensity within those blue eyes of his… something about that intensity… it honestly scared her.

Inwardly grumbling, she proceeded slowly back to where the others were at, making sure to keep looking back at the blond teen every now and then to make sure he wasn't about to suddenly lunge at her.

Once linking up with the others and swiftly retreating, Cinder allowed herself a deep breath once they quickly headed back into the forest, where they would take a bullhead back to their base.

Jaune Arc, huh…? Perhaps she'd have to reassess how to handle him, after all.

For she was now getting the feeling that dealing with him might not quite be as smooth a thing to pull off as she'd initially hoped.

A quick glance to Neo told her that the mute woman was thinking along similar lines despite her obvious hatred of the young man. Evidently, the fear she had of him was even greater than her rage towards him.

Cinder could only shake her head – just who exactly was she thinking of dealing with here?

* * *

Not too long into the dance, Pyrrha's worst fears had been confirmed.

Well, 'worst fears' was a gross exaggeration, actually… but nonetheless, it was far from a pleasing thing.

Having long since been put on a pedestal, very few if any have ever tried to approach her with the intention of being her friend. This has made her extremely grateful to her team and RWBY for breaking this mold she'd been stuck in ever since obtaining her title as the Invincible Girl.

However, even with word of her having lost in a spar to Jaune some weeks ago, her reputation still remained for the most part. As such, not many people bothered approaching her, still placing her on a rather high pedestal.

This meant no one had even bothered to approach her at all to be their date to this dance – not that she would've said yes, but the point behind it still remained.

In all honesty, she'd really wanted Jaune to be her partner and in more ways than just one. While she wouldn't dare say she held truly romantic feelings for the blond boy just yet, she was self-aware enough to know that in what seemed like a very short time span, she's come to view him in a special light. So, for him to express no interest in this dance and then to simply assume she'd get a date just like that had honestly left her feeling rather sad, even hurt in some respects.

This was her fault, however. In hindsight, she clearly could've tried to make her intentions much more obvious, but instead she'd just been trying to wait patiently for others to make the first move when she knew that never would happen.

Having felt more than a little depressed by this, Pyrrha had only been able to endure being at the dance itself for just a handful of hours before sneaking off. She didn't even bother telling Nora and Ren that she was stepping out, having not wanted to worry them in any way, not that they didn't already know what was going on.

And so, before she knew, Pyrrha was wandering the campus grounds.

"Much like a certain someone…" she murmured to herself, laughing awkwardly to herself… or maybe at herself. It was hard to tell, really.

Sparing a glance to some soldiers patrolling by, Pyrrha opted to move somewhere else, especially since it seemed like they'd heard her laugh just now and she now felt more than a little self-conscious.

She now headed for the main pathway that led to Beacon, where the statue of that courageous warrior could be found at. Aside from the gentle breeze causing nearby patches of neatly-trimmed grass to rustle, the only real sound she could pick up was the clacking sound made by her own footsteps, her heels clicking against Beacon's hard stone layout quite audibly despite her best efforts to remain quiet.

Reaching the statue after about fifteen minutes of walking, she could only look up at the statue's face.

"Just what should I do?" she asked, wishing for the spirit of the one this statue was modeled after to provide some guidance.

But of course, no answer was forthcoming.

She heaved a great sigh and hung her head in shame and embarrassment. How shameful of her to be in this kind of state. She could go up against Grimm and fellow students without any problem, but have her assess and generally just think about her social life and maybe her love life and she gets so incredibly unsure and subsequently indecisive.

Is this perhaps her destiny…?

"…Pyrrha?"

She nearly jumped as an all too familiar voice called out to her. She whipped around with surprising speed in spite of her heels and dress to see none other than the young man himself who'd been plaguing her thoughts.

"J-Jaune?! What are you doing here?!" She really hadn't meant to sound so panicky, but she couldn't help it somehow. "Didn't you say you were going to go patrolling?"

He smiled sheepishly. "That I did and, well, wouldn't be a very thorough patrol if I just left this spot amongst others unattended to."

A-Ah, right, that was true…

"So, you've already covered the rest of the campus?" she now asked, much more in control of herself.

"Not yet – still have a lot of ground to cover, but…" he trailed off. His expression became quite complex. "With all the soldiers around, there's not really much that I can realistically do. Even so, it's just something I feel compelled to do still…"

"Ah," Pyrrha started. Yes, that did sound like Jaune, stubborn to the end no matter what it was he was doing. "To be expected, I guess."

Jaune nodded. "Atlas' soldiers are efficient. I really admire that."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

Then there was silence.

A heavy and very much awkward silence.

Pyrrha had to keep from sweating out of sheer nervousness. Jaune, meanwhile, just stared up at the statue with a blank expression, though there was an almost peaceful look in his eyes.

"S-So, um, where did you just come from?" Pyrrha eventually managed to ask.

"The CCT. It's a place that would certainly be targeted, so I'd decided to stop by there to see if anything was amiss." Jaune turned his attention back to her. "But Atlas obviously understood its importance and already had plenty of guards there to protect it. I just took some time to speak with one of them about what had been going on before making my way here. Though I had felt something amiss…"

At that, Pyrrha's eyes went wide. "Really?"

He nodded. "I did… but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. I made sure to sweep the surrounding area before leaving things be too." He then blinked slowly, as if just realizing something. "So why are you out here? What happened at the dance?"

"O-Oh, I just…" she trailed off, the emotions from before coming back now in full force. "I just couldn't bring myself to be there any longer."

Jaune looked surprised by her words and now turned to fully face her. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing too serious, it's just…" Again, she trailed off, unsure of what to say. But after some seconds of reconsidering, she decided to just admit the truth. "I… didn't… have a… a date."

Words could not describe the sheepishness she felt as she said those words.

But said sheepishness lasted only a split second before Jaune's befuddled expression filled her with some sense of bemusement. "You didn't have a date?" he asked to confirm.

"I didn't."

"How can that be? You're a great person."

Feeling her face turn almost as red as her own hair, Pyrrha managed to shoot back a reply. "…Ever since I've started to take part in tournaments, I started to be put on a pedestal by those around me. The Invincible Girl, people started to call me." She folded her arms under her breasts as she turned away from Jaune and the statue and took several steps away as well. "At first, it wasn't a particularly big deal, but after a while, things just… devolved. Before I knew it, I was lauded as a prodigy, heads and shoulders above others my age. All the time I'd spent training, the close calls I'd had during some fights, all of that time and effort ended up ignored in favor of my supposed talent and others only wished to get close me just so they can use my new fame for their own purposes… and then, when my apparent humble self became known to them, they simply left me all alone, out of some sense of awe, I suppose. After that, no one ever really bothered to approach me – they felt I was out of their league."

"…And so, by doing that, they isolated themselves from you," Jaune finished. "And in turn, isolated you from them."

She nodded. "With how things were like back home, I'd dreaded going to Haven academy. It's partially why I came here to Beacon. Except, lo and behold, my fame even extended across kingdoms. You, Nora, Ren, team RWBY… you're the only ones that have looked past all that. You're the only ones I can call friends."

"So that's why…" he mumbled as he approached her. "That's why you wanted me to come to the dance, right? To have all your friends there?"

She winced. He wasn't entirely wrong, but he wasn't right either. "Kind of, yes."

"I see…" He paused and then bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Pyrrha, I hadn't even thought of that."

This sudden gesture blindsided her. She looked at him in utter shook for a solid second before almost frantically waving her arms at him. "Wha-?! No, no! Jaune, you don't have to apologize for that! It's not like you could've known this!"

Indeed, if anyone was to really blame, it was herself. She was the one that had kept this all bottled up inside.

"…Even so. At the very least, I could afford to be more attentive," Jaune replied before promptly sighing.

Once again, silence reigned.

But this time, Pyrrha ended said silence even more quickly than before. "Say, Jaune."

"Yes?"

She opened her mouth to speak – only to suddenly close it, a trickle of fear suddenly overwhelming her. She then proceeded to open and close her mouth a few more times before finally summoning the strength to do what she'd wanted to do for a long time.

All this time, she and the others have only been learning about Jaune as a person in very small portions. Of them all, his past was perhaps the least known. While she wouldn't dare claim that as partners and friends that they needed to know everything about each other, Pyrrha felt that she should at the very least try to know something about Jaune's previous experiences.

After all, there was so many things about him now that just begged for explanations. And no explanations will ever be forthcoming if she never bothers asking.

"Won't you tell me about yourself?" she finally said.

"About myself?"

She nodded, firmly and without hesitation. "Yes. I-I mean, it's only fair, right? I just bore my heart out to you a minute ago, so…"

Jaune smiled a bit, clearly amused. She couldn't help but feel her face go red again, but she didn't try to hide it this time.

"Sounds fair," he then said. "After all, it is a nice night out."

Pyrrha could now return his smile with one of her own. "That it is."

"So… what do you wish to know?"

"I… I honestly don't know," Pyrrha muttered, a little embarrassed. She then laughed at the sheer absurdity of what was going on. To think leaving the dance would've had this kind of ending for her.

Jaune didn't join in on her laughter, but he did seem to relax a bit more, something the redhead silently counted as a success of sorts – he always took things too seriously, after all.

"Maybe," she began after settling down. "Maybe you could tell me how you got that scar? T-That is, if it's not a problem."

Jaune traced the scar on his face. "Oh, this? Well, it's not a problem per say… if anything, at the time of when I'd gotten it, I'd had more pressing concerns going on."

"…Then will you…?" Pyrrha began. "…Ah, and if it's okay as well, I'd like to hear about what you've done on the frontier too."

Jaune blinked. "I don't mind, but that's a pretty lengthy tale there."

"I've all night." Then to further emphasize her point, Pyrrha walked back to the statue and sat at the bench near it. She looked at Jaune eagerly. "The question is, though, do you have all night?"

Considering just how seriously he took things, Pyrrha was half-expecting him to maybe come up with an excuse right now so he could then go back to patrolling. She prayed like hell that this wouldn't end up being the case, however.

Her prayers came true right after.

"…I believe I do," Jaune answered, his entire figure relaxing completely. As his shoulders ceased to hunch up and his fingers fully uncurled, it struck Pyrrha that this was perhaps the first time in a very long time the blond had ever done so.

Walking up to the bench and taking a seat directly next to her, Jaune looked up at the broken moon above for a moment before uttering a question.

"So… you ready to be bored to death the whole night?" These words were asked with a quiet and rather awkward sense of playfulness, as if it's been an equally long time since he's done so.

This only made Pyrrha's smile grow that much more, her eyes almost lighting up as if to challenge him.

"Bring it on."

* * *

 **Not quite what you guys expected out of this chapter, eh? Heh, I bet it was a real surprise for there to be no fighting or anything of the like, especially after all the build up with Cinder's worrying about her plan. There is a reason, of course, for this red herring, however.**

 **Firstly, the dance in and of itself wasn't anything too special hence why I didn't bother including any scenes of the others partying the night away or whatever.**

 **Secondly, Jaune isn't always going to be stonewalling Cinder and the other antagonists every step of the way, hence why Cinder was able to finally pull off a 'win' here in such an anti-climatic fashion. It's just not reasonable for him to be involved in literally every single affair/conflict.**

 **And thirdly, it was time to really begin examining him as a character. I may have initially done so when Blake had spoken to him following the docks incident, but ever since then nothing truly forthcoming had occurred on that front. So, what better way to start this part of the story back up than with Pyrrha, his partner?**

 **Now, this isn't to say that this is the start of anything special between them… nor is it to say that there won't be anything special between them. It's just the first of many future scenes where Jaune will be opening up to others more about himself and actually relaxing.**

 **But worry not – up next is Beacon giving out missions to the students. And that's where the action will really be beginning. Look forward to it!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	21. Chapter 21

Alright, the part I've been waiting quite a while to write – the missions! Or rather, mission since it's just JNPR I'll be focusing on, heh heh. This is one of several parts planned that I've been eager to get around to for multiple reasons, partially because some stuff I'd been thinking through have finally been fully finalized in my mind. Said stuff is by no means super drastic, but it will be interesting, this I can assure you.

Now, other than this, there's really not much else I can bring myself to say – life is same as always, and there's only so many times I can repeat myself about 'things picking up in this fic' before even I get sick of myself, ha.

So, with that one quick statement out of the way, let's get started!

Chapter 21

Beacon's annual dance came and went without a hassle.

With the moods of all the students and staff considerably alleviated as a result of the nightly festivities, it was time for them to now put their all into what came next.

In this case, this meant missions. After all, how can any of the students claim to be aspiring huntsmen and huntresses without being able to put what they learn into practice?

With a quick speech by the headmaster, all of the first years had been essentially turned loose to meet up with their teams and look through the almost frighteningly extensive lists of missions they could pick from on the viewscreens provided in the room.

It just went to show how many people are out there that were in need of help, Jaune had thought.

That said, there was an actual sense of excitement about him now. It'd always been one thing to simply go and help others the way he's been doing up until now, but to now be sent on an actual mission as if he were an actual huntsman… just something about it seemed so cool, appealing to some childish part of him that he'd thought had died long ago.

This was by no means a bad feeling, though certainly an odd one. Dare he say it, he actually felt a little relaxed, a result of last night when he and his partner had spent a better portion of the evening just talking.

It'd felt really nice to just be able to sit down like that and just talk.

And judging by the small yet heartfelt smile on Pyrrha's face as she walked beside him, it was clear she felt the same way too, something he appreciated more than he could ever express in words. And Nora and Ren, who were walking on his other side, looked rather pleased still, have looked pleased ever since he and Pyrrha had returned to their dorm last night.

Now, just why were they walking, however? And away from the viewscreens that listed the missions?

Why, because the headmaster had surprisingly called them, much to their collective surprise.

After having bid a quick goodbye to team RWBY, team JNPR had promptly responded to the headmaster's summons that had been messaged to their scrolls and now walked to where the man was at.

"Be sure to kick some butt!" had been the parting words from Ruby.

Anyways, JNPR didn't have to travel too far to meet with the headmaster, merely head to another room nearby.

As they entered the room, Jaune's good mood took a bit of a hit upon seeing the rather serious expression on the headmaster's face.

"Ah, good," said headmaster commented upon noticing them.

"Is something wrong, headmaster?" Jaune asked as he and his team neared.

"No, not quite. But thank you for asking," the man replied, his signature mug in one hand while his cane was in the other. "My apologies for the sudden summons, but I pulled you aside for something a bit… special."

"Special, headmaster?" Pyrrha asked in interest.

Nora suddenly gasped, her own hands shooting up to the sides of her face. "Are we getting a special mission?!"

Ren looked to his friend in mild annoyance and worry. "Nora, mind your manners, please…"

Headmaster Ozpin merely chuckled, however. "You are on the mark, Ms. Valkyrie," he calmly stated, his words causing Nora to practically cheer.

"Not that we're ungrateful for this mission, but why us?" Jaune politely inquired, however. He'd suspected as much when they'd gotten the summons, but still it was odd.

"Because in light of your actions during the most recent incident, it's clear that all things considered, team JNPR is among the most capable of the first years," the headmaster answered, taking a sip of his cocoa. "It is therefore only natural to give you four a mission more suited to your skill level and potential."

A quick glance to his teammates told Jaune that they were pretty much eating up the headmaster's words, which were true, but he still felt something amiss. His instincts were rarely wrong and while he felt he had to learn to not always go leaping into things right away, now more than ever, Jaune was feeling something was going on.

Alas, there was no point in getting too worked up about things. Over the past several days, even weeks, he's become increasingly self-aware of his own changing emotional state.

"Out on the frontier, there's a town by the simple name of Sol, ironic since it's always cloudy out in that area," the headmaster began. "It's a town whose populace is comprised entirely of Faunus and specializes in farming. Recently, a considerable wave of what's believed to be Grimm have been appearing near their borders and they'd lost a fair number of people to this wave already, to say nothing of livestock and crops too."

At that, Jaune quirked an eyebrow. "Believed to be Grimm? There's a chance it isn't?" Though he was asking for confirmation, Jaune knew what was going on here.

Well, no not really. But what he meant is that it was certainly extremely odd for Grimm to be able to pull essentially hit and run tactics like that. It would be one thing if they were all older and therefore smarter Grimm, but that would also mean they'd be larger than the average Grimm too. And if there was even the slightest possibility it wasn't Grimm, then that'd mean the supposed Grimm can't possibly be that much larger than the average since there'd be no way they could be mistaken for a group of bandits or whatever.

The headmaster, clearly knowing this as well, nodded. "Team JNPR, your mission is to head out to Sol and investigate this matter. And if it really is Grimm, exterminate them. If this is not the case, then I shall leave it to your collective judgement on how to proceed from there. I would highly recommend leaving as soon as possible – this has been going on for several weeks and this news has only reached us recently due to technological differences in communication between us and Sol."

And that was just about the gist of it all.

The next few minutes were then spent with him and his friends asking the headmaster for some additional details, which the man provided before sending them on their way.

As today was the day for teams to head out on their missions, everyone was already dressed and had gathered their weapons from their lockers and so, team JNPR had promptly made their way back to their dorm for just a moment to hastily gather some personal effects of theirs before then heading to the nearest bullhead. The headmaster had already called ahead to inform the pilot of their destination.

In the span of just several minutes, team JNPR was already flying over downtown Vale.

The four of them took this time to look over the districts down below in all their splendor, but their minds were filled with the details they'd learned.

"So, this was quite a surprise," Ren commented out of the blue.

"At least said surprise is something cool!" Nora then retorted. "I mean, how many other teams can match our awesomeness?!"

"Team RWBY?" Pyrrha jokingly said, but not really – said team really was quite skilled. And on a random note, apparently, Weiss found out that her sister was in Vale and out of excitement had pretty much forced her team to select a mission that would keep them in Vale, just so that they – or rather, she – will have a decent chance of running into said sister.

Looks like team RWBY will then be working with the Atlas military, at least to some extent, Jaune thought.

"Still, it's all very odd," he actually said, rubbing his chin. "A wave of Grimm utilizing hit and run tactics rather than just wipe out the entire town? That's definitely new."

Pyrrha nodded, now serious. "Assuming it's even Grimm at all… though I honestly can't fathom who or what else could do this."

"At least this town is still standing though, right?" Nora now chipped in. "I mean, yeah sure, it definitely sucks that they've been getting hit like this, but better than being totally wiped out."

Jaune was inclined to agree. Though the mere thought of how many must have already died was painful to dwell on, so long as most of the populace and their homes and livestock remained, they can inevitably rebuild. A rather long running clinical way of looking at this, but sadly, this was reality.

But more than that, why them?

Even taking into account their involvement in the paladin incident, especially his involvement, surely there were second, third, or even fourth year students who likely have experience dealing with more unusual missions.

That the headmaster had opted to pick them, first year team, to deal with this was strange. While Jaune could objectively say that yes, he and his friends were certainly more skilled than most other first years, this didn't mean that it was suddenly alright to be sending first years to do things more qualified and older students could likely do.

…

…

…Perhaps he was just overthinking things a bit. Again, he was always so quick to trust his instincts. And while the number of times his instincts had been wrong was admittedly a very small number, he couldn't simply go risking any sort of conflicts that could've been avoided, especially when said conflicts could potentially impact future attempts to help others.

Still, he would be on the lookout for anything really amiss. Because no matter how he looks at it, the very nature of whatever was going on near Sol was clearly out of the ordinary. That alone warrants all of his attention.

If this is perhaps some long-term ploy the headmaster is carrying out via him and his team, then he'll gladly play along, so long as he can still save others.

"Whatever exactly is going on," he suddenly spoke up, cutting short the conversation his friends had been having while he'd been deep in thought just now. He smiled softly and assuredly. "We'll be sure to take care of it for the sake of Sol's people."

Pyrrha smiled. "Right."

"Yeah!" Nora was beaming.

Ren merely closed his eyes and smirked a bit, nodding in agreement.

Their faith in his words honored him. And it helped to relax him, actually; only now did he realize just how tense his body had suddenly felt. But now thanks to their obvious trust in him, he could feel said tension swiftly be alleviated.

With their destination easily being hours away, he decided it was best for him and his team to close their eyes and get some rest for the time being.

They were going to have a busy time ahead, after all.

* * *

Some hours later, when he was able to take a bit of a break, Ozpin headed outside to watch as some of the last few first-year teams began to head out, either into Vale or even further beyond.

At the same time this was happening, some bullheads were making their return, a number of second and third-year teams aboard. Unlike the first years, who spent a solid portion of said first year honing their minds and bodies throughout the school year, seconds years spent roughly half their time abroad while the other half was spent learning more advanced topics. As for third years, a bit more than three quarters of their time was spent on missions while the last quarter was spent studying extremely specialized topics.

Anyways, it was now about this time of the year that many of them began to return to Beacon and he smiled and would nod in the direction of the many teams that called out in greetings to him.

…He noticed some teams had yet to return, which made his already weary heart grow even wearier.

Although his students were always among the best and brightest, they were naturally by no means invincible – casualties do still occur. Such was the sad fact about being a huntsman or huntress.

Sure, said teams that have yet to show could simply be running late. It was by no means not too uncommon for some to simply be unable to communicate with others while out in the field, but there was still always that all too real possibility that they had died and with no immediate way to confirm this yet.

Ozpin stayed outside for quite a while, waiting until almost all of the first-year teams had taken off while many of the second and third year teams had returned and now began their eager trips back to the campus to debrief and destress.

"Here you are," Glynda commented as she approached him, she being the only one around right now. "…I take it you've sent out team JNPR."

"I have. Hours ago, in fact," he answered.

Glynda grimaced. There was no need for her to say why she was so upset.

What he'd told team JNPR earlier was indeed true. All of it was true in fact.

What he had left out, however, was information that only he and those amongst his little circle were privy to.

While he wouldn't dare claim to know who exactly served Salem this time around, he always did his best to try and figure out the general movements of those he could surmise to be the immortal woman's pawns.

Qrow was not his only field agent, merely one of his most trusted and skilled.

The others… sadly, he's lost communication with most of them. And there was not a doubt in his mind that they'd been killed.

The last he'd ever been updated, there'd been movement out in the Grimmlands. Word of a single individual being spotted leaving said Grimmlands, where Salem lived and ruled, had made its way to Ozpin but that was all that he'd been informed of.

Everything about said individual, from their name to their appearance and abilities, was completely unknown. The only thing that was known was that said individual was a man of a considerable age and that was about it, which hardly narrowed down the list of potential suspects he's formed over the years.

And every time he's tried reaching out to his field agents, he was always unable to do so. Again, there was no doubt they were killed.

That so many of them had likely been slain and before they could even send additional word to him said something truly frightening about this individual's battle prowess.

The only thing he'd been informed of other than the person's gender and apparent age… was the general direction he'd been travelling in.

…and though certainly a far distance away from the Grimmlands, Sol lied in this individual's general path.

The wave of Grimm that was apparently assaulting the town on a regular basis… there was not a doubt in his mind that somehow there was a connection between this mystery and this unknown individual.

Hence why he'd sent JNPR. Not necessarily to investigate this oddity amongst the Grimm – though this was still very much an important thing to do – but rather to possibly discover the identity of this enigma and report back to him.

"Well," Glynda said with a huff. "What do you think their chances are like, Ozpin?"

"I honestly can't say. From a purely objective perspective, certainly not all that good… but then, the same could've been said of them during the paladin incident. An incident they'd emerged from alive and well," he replied.

"True, but even then… I've said it before many times already, but I don't approve of this at all."

"Neither do I despite sending them on this mission. But even so, it had to be done. This individual, whoever he is, has been slaying every huntsmen and huntress sent his way… yet he's also left alone every settlement and town that had undoubtedly been along his path."

"With the obvious exception of Sol," Glynda responded.

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. But even so, that this person has left all the other settlements completely alone along with their inhabitants means that this person doesn't kill needlessly."

"And you're hoping that somehow this odd moral compass of his will prevent this enigma from killing team JNPR should they come into contact with him?"

"So long as they don't give him reason to treat them the same way he's treated the others prior… yes." Ozpin sighed. "I'm aware of how big a gamble this is, Glynda. But we've lost so many good people already. We don't have the technology capable of remotely monitoring his general path from so far away, much less with any great amount of detail and he's already killed so many good people as is… we had to change things up."

"Do you feel this person is worth so much trouble? Worth throwing away the lives of so many people, now potentially including some of our students?"

"Considering just how many huntsmen and huntresses he's killed within so short a time, he may very well be one of the mightiest pawns the Queen has ever had under her thumb. While more recent 'battles' with her forces had been entirely done via counter-intelligence tactics amongst other moments of subterfuge, there will always be times where sheer brute force is necessary."

"In other words, the Queen is tiring of using a scalpel… and that this man, her hammer, is preparing to be swung," Glynda murmured as she stood directly by him.

"Most likely, yes."

Glynda's teeth gritted quite audibly. "I see." She turned to leave. "Now more than ever, I truly do hope you know what you're doing, Ozpin. I know we can't always make the most ideal of choices, but even so… this really isn't sitting well with me."

"I feel the same, Glynda," Ozpin replied. "Just please have faith in our students."

Glynda let out an indignant huff, as if to say she would've done so anyways and then took her leave, resulting in him being on his lonesome.

And not for the first time today, he sighed heavily.

Once again, he's lied.

He already knew who exactly this 'unknown person' is. Someone he's had some level of contact with in the past and certainly not someone that he was on good terms with.

Ever since the death of young Gretchen, the man has always held him in pure contempt. So much so that he'd even go as far as to fall under Salem's thrall just to eventually take revenge against him.

"And he's certainly been putting his strength to terrifying use…" he mumbled.

The man's strength was something Ozpin was familiar with, albeit to an extent; not once in the times he's had the chance to see him in action had he seen the full extent of that man's power and skill.

And this lack of information only made Hazel Rainart that much more dangerous. It would be easy to plan ways to counter his demonstrated level of strength but said plans could be thwarted so very easily if the man really was just that much stronger, which Ozpin feared to be the absolute truth.

Thus, the mission he'd sent JNPR on was just as much a reconnaissance mission on Hazel as it was a Grimm extermination mission.

…Hazel, likely because of his sister, held something of a soft spot for youngsters. As cruel a method as it is, Ozpin was hoping that by sending JNPR against him, he'd let down his guard enough to give the team a genuine fighting chance. And combined with the abnormal Jaune Arc, perhaps said chance wasn't so small after all.

Oh, by no means did he expect team JNPR to somehow actually win against Hazel, but at the very least he was hoping that going up against him long enough would allow them to take note of what exact tactics he's been recently using. Learning even that much would make planning for or around Hazel that much easier for him.

And so, with all this in mind…

"Please," Ozpin whispered. "Do return in one piece, JNPR."

* * *

Jaune woke in an instant, going from the land of dreams to reality without any lag whatsoever.

He did so just in the nick of time – the pilot of the bullhead just made an announcement that they were about to touch down.

He smiled slightly. Looks like they'd arrived without issue.

By now, due to the sheer length of the flight, it was already late in the afternoon, late enough that the sun should be gently setting in the great distance, but he couldn't tell since, true to what the headmaster had said, the weather here was quite cloudy.

Looking out of the bullhead, Jaune looked upon the town of Sol, said town looking rather dated. To be expected since this was out in the frontier; out here, modern technology and equipment weren't exactly readily available, resulting in many villages and towns being built from scratch 'the old-fashioned way' as some people had taken to saying.

That is to say, through the use of their own hands and whatever relatively primitive equipment could be made out of the surrounding environment.

However, Sol looked to be a fairly old town, old in the sense that it's clearly had time to be fully settled into by its inhabitants who have in turn done their best to try updating the town's architecture and technology as best as they could. Indeed, compared to most other places out in the frontier, Sol was positively fancy.

As the bullhead circled above the town for a moment, Jaune could make out many people still milling about on the town's streets looking up at them in obvious interest. This was clearly their own little marketplace. Further down the roads the people had built, he could make out the farms and associated facilities out on the edge of said town, where their large crops could be seen.

"Wow…" he heard Nora say, the normally rambunctious girl speaking almost quietly as she too looked upon Sol. Looks like she nor Ren had ever passed through such a town during their travels over the years.

"Yeah," he said in agreement, his small smile growing a bit. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

By now, the bullhead was beginning to touch down. Due to the town's layout in addition to the abundance of plant life as well as wild life, the bullhead was unable to land too close to the town, so it instead it had to head out towards the plains that lied well past the town's crops and unofficial borders, whereupon team JNPR bade a quick goodbye to their pilot and proceeded to briskly walk down the nearest path that led to the town.

As the four of them did so, they all looked around, taking it all in.

Jaune let out a quiet sound of worry; he'd noticed it from up above but hadn't bothered paying it too much mind in favor of focusing on the beauty of the town even in this gloomy weather. But here on foot, he could better see the damage the town had sustained from the Grimm that had apparently been attacking them. Said damage was in the form of numerous busted trees, smushed grass, hastily mended fences and noticeably small herds of farm animals out in the extremely large and open fields, herds that were now being moved in by the currently working farmers.

The numbers had been thinned and significantly so, Jaune noted grimly. This Grimm attacks were certainly devastating and efficient. Out here in the frontier, where technology was severely lacking and quick communication was a luxury ill-afforded, it was up to the settlements to basically look out for themselves for the most part. So if they start suffering losses of any kind, it could very quickly spiral out of control for the people living in them.

That Sol was still standing and look fairly well overall spoke admirably of the people's resiliency, but it now went without saying that they could only take so much more before things are truly impossible to salvage.

"Looks like the… mayor? Is that the proper term here?... Well, looks like he's out here to greet us," spoke Pyrrha sheepishly.

And sure enough, as they neared the town, there was a growing crowd in the marketplace, which this road they were on led directly to. At the head of said crowd was a short and stocky buffalo Faunus, his horns large and thick while what was visible of his forearms from this distance were covered in rather thick hair, resembling that of an actual bull.

"Hello there," Jaune greeted as they closed the distance. "We're team JNPR from Beacon academy. We're the ones who will be handling your request."

Again, it was obvious that Jaune and his friends were clearly not from around here, a fact made all the more evident by the way the crowd looked at them and mumbled amongst themselves. But when he just spoke, many that heard him practically cheered.

The buffalo Faunus in particular, definitely the mayor, was practically on the verge of tears. "Thank the heavens!" he yelled in a booming voice that vaguely reminded Jaune of professor Port. "Welcome to Sol, you four! You've no idea how happy this makes us!"

The man quickly walked forth, hands outstretched, an action Jaune dutifully returned and before he knew it, his hand was practically enveloped by the man's hands.

"I'm sorry we couldn't exactly give you a heads-up about our arrival," Jaune said. "I'm Jaune Arc, by the way. This here is my partner, Pyrrha Nikos, and these two are Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren."

Introducing his team, he watched as the man enthusiastically clasped their hands in greeting, which they returned.

"No worries at all, you young bucks!" The man was practically laughing. "Our lack of fancy technology just goes without saying, you know? Ah, I'm Dean, mayor of Sol! On behalf of the people, I officially welcome you!"

Jaune and his team couldn't help but smile in response to the man's cheeriness, but Jaune's smile only lasted for a split second before he adopted a serious look.

"Thanks, it means a lot. Now, not to rush anything, but do you think there's somewhere my team and I could stay for the duration of our mission here? Additionally, is there somewhere we all could sit down and discuss the details? We'd been briefed before coming, of course, but I'd like to get the info directly from you and others."

Dean nodded eagerly. "Of course, of course… alright, you lot! Clear the way! We all got business to get back to!"

The crowd collectively grumbled and groaned as their mayor yelled at them, but they obeyed. Jaune took note of how swiftly they went back to their 'business,' namely in that it wasn't so much resuming business but rather beginning the process of closing up for the day. People were quickly drawing close wooden or steel shutters, supplies and other goods out in the open were gathered up and taken inside and doors were loudly opening and closing rapidly. The blond teen could even hear many of them locking up too.

"Follow me – I'll lead you to our inn. Best in town!" Dean said in a joking tone.

Jaune allowed himself a quick laugh, primarily because the inn in question was really the only one in town.

One had to appreciate jokes like this, he silently thought.

Him and his friends followed after the stocky mayor to said inn and in no time flat, they'd been directed to two rooms directly across the hall from one another, one for the girls and the other for the boys. JNPR promptly went about putting their personal stuff in their rooms and after locking up, they headed downstairs to the inn's very own diner, which was made entirely out of thick wood and lumber.

Combined with the intentionally dim lighting, it certainly had a homey feeling to it, but as they sat at a large table, said homeliness was nowhere to be found as they all now looked quite serious.

"Now then, where do you want to start?" Dean asked as they got settled in, some drinks – beer for Dean and water for the rest of them – being brought just as the mayor leaned forward in his seat.

"From the beginning," Jaune replied. "From what my team and I were briefed on, entities believed to be Grimm started to attack the town several weeks back, hit and run tactics based on the information given. Can you elaborate on this?"

Dean nodded. "Honestly, don't know what to tell you – one day, everything was right as rain, just like always, then the next thing we knew, a wave of Grimm came from the west and suddenly hit our farms near the outskirts of Sol. At first, the damage was pretty light, just some busted down fences, screwed up barn doors, stuff like that. Gave us all a damn good scare, that was for sure. But the next attack, which happened just four days later, was much worse."

At this, the mayor's expression tightened as did his grip on his beer mug's handle. "A solid dozen of our chickens got slaughtered by some Beowulves while those Ursa ones literally tore through several cows and pigs. They also ended up knocking around a lot of the lamps out in the barns over there and started a small fire that ended up spreading to our fields a bit before we could put the flames out. But it was during the third attack just the night after that…"

"…They targeted people," Ren quietly finished.

Dean nodded slowly. "Damn it all… Archie – one of our best farmers – along with his wife Tiffy and their kids got killed by the Grimm first. They lived the furthest out from the town, so that made sense… but then the Grimm just sorta circled around the town a bit and attacked one of the businesses too, a nice little souvenir shop of sorts that we had going on for the occasional outsiders. The owners, Keith and Louise, were torn apart along with the shop."

Jaune's right hand balled into a fist upon hearing the broken tone of the mayor's voice. "And this has been repeating ever since? And just to confirm, these really are Grimm behind the attacks?"

"Yeah, we're all damn sure it's Grimm now. I know it sounds crazy since I don't remember those hellish things ever behaving like this, but it's definitely them. And to answer your first question, yeah, more or less. As you probably saw, we've been doing our best to repair the damage and try to keep our cool, but that's nowhere near as easy as we'd hope it'd be."

Jaune could only silently agree. With how drawn the Grimm are to negativity, sometimes all it takes is just for one settlement out on the frontier to be having one particularly bad day to draw a small wave of Grimm to them. And if that happens, more often than not, said settlement ends up getting wiped out.

The people of Sol here have clearly been doing their best to act as if things were normal enough, an admirable thing given just how long they've been holding out for, but now that he got a good look at Dean and some of the other people here in the diner, it was plain as day for him to see how frayed their nerves were.

The cheers and enthusiasm from earlier, that hadn't simply been genuine relief on their parts – it was deliberate overacting on their part, a hyperbole of themselves as a way to keep their emotions and sanity intact.

These poor people…

"I see. In that case, can you please describe how exactly these attacks played out?" Jaune now gently asked. "I know recalling them is painful… but if you could tell us where exactly the Grimm seemed to be coming from as well as what other kind of odd behavior they were exhibiting, my team and I can plan things out."

There was a flash of pain in Dean's eyes as he vividly recalled what had happened during prior attacks, but the mayor proved his mettle as his slightly wrinkled face tightened up with resolve.

"You got it," Dean responded. "But first, we're gonna need some more drinks, I think." He then promptly chugged his entire mug and motioned for the diner's sole bartender to come fill it up again.

Jaune shared a look with his friends and then without a word spoken, they too chugged their drinks and asked for refills before continuing their conversation well into the night, all the while remaining on alert in case the Grimm chose this night to launch another attack.

No such convenient attack came, leaving team JNPR and Dean alone and with all the time in the world to continue talking.

It was a long while before the team finally finished their discussion with the mayor and bid him a good night.

They all then went to bed in complete silence, dwelling on the information they'd just gained.

Tomorrow, their efforts would begin in earnest. The four of them honestly couldn't wish for the next day to come fast enough.

* * *

Hazel awoke in a literal instant, going from unconsciousness to alertness at such a speed, one would be forgiven for thinking he might have been faking it.

But of course, there was no one around to make such an observation. After all, he always made a move on his own.

Well, perhaps not so much anymore, he silently noted as he watched the several Beowulves nearby eyeing him almost hungrily.

Except rather than act on said hunger, they merely sat there, waiting.

For his orders, that is.

The behemoth of a man let out a sigh as he stood up, his personally made campsite suddenly feeling oddly stuffy somehow.

Being around the Grimm in any capacity was not something most could say they would be comfortable with doing, much less in the same way that he's doing so right now. Not even with how long he's been in Salem's… employ, could he say he's grown fully used to the Grimm.

Unfortunately, he had a job to do.

Namely, testing out the limits of this new ability he's recently gained. Well, he says 'recent' in that it's one he's only noticed over the past several weeks or so, but how long he's actually had it is unknown. In any case, when he'd first realized he could exert some minor degree of control over nearby Grimm, Salem had all but demanded in her usual way for him to push this new ability to its limits.

And sadly, that could only be done by essentially amassing a small personal squad of Grimm with which to wreak havoc with.

There was only so much he could order them to do when left to their lonesome selves, thus he had to travel east until he found some live targets with which to practice on.

And in this case, said 'live targets' had taken the form of a town called Sol.

So far, his ability had proven to be quite effective, having allowed him to issue brief orders to the Grimm even from a fair distance away. At first, he'd only had them mess around with the town's outermost fences and grasslands and had since then gradually escalated.

It pained him somewhat to have the Grimm kill people, it truly did, but it had to be done in order to determine just how much control he had over them when they were in the middle of their violent assault. It was important to know, after all, whether or not it was possible to rein them in during the middle of attacks, just in case there needed to be a change of plan.

Really now, it was sad that things had to be done this way, but it's just the way it is…

…Oh well. In all fairness, even though it did upset him, it was a very mild feeling; it's been a very long time indeed since he's ever truly felt concern for others. His many adventures during his youth had long since jaded him to the point of near-numbness and the loss of his sister, his one sole light in his weary life, had only made it that much worse.

And if nothing else, he could console himself with knowing that by the time he was done fully conducting his little experiment here that Sol would simply be one of many settlements out here in the frontier to be lost. An odd way of consoling himself, sure, but it is what is. Sol was far from a special town.

One of the Beowulves growled as it suddenly approached him. Hazel slowly quirked an eyebrow as it neared him, the wolf-based Grimm seemingly begging him to be let loose.

Through the connection he had with this Grimm, he could feel its endless bloodthirst beckon him, threaten to overwhelm him, leave him as the one subservient to the Grimm-.

-Except it failed and miserably at that too.

"Enough," Hazel stated in his usual tone of voice, that of a calm yet commanding individual. And in response to his one-word reply, the Beowulf staggered as if struck before hastily moving back in line with the other Grimm.

"Hmph." Hazel eyed the Grimm and did so until they all ceased their mild whining and went stock still. After once again showing who was in control, he turned his back to them without a single care and looked up.

It was a cloudless night, leaving the broken moon clearly visible to all. He looked up at it, now feeling introspective.

"Just how long will it take to avenge you?" he murmured sorrowfully.

Gretchen had been the only thing that mattered to him in their later years together, his guiding moonlight. And ever since her death at the negligent hands of that bastard Ozpin, ever since then Hazel could only dwell on thoughts of revenge.

Gretchen's death could've been so easily avoided. She'd never been ready to go to Beacon in the first place and yet even though her inexperience had been as plain as day, Ozpin had still allowed her entry into his school… and now look at the outcome.

Hazel's massive hands balled into tight fists as he grimaced at the mere thought of the man he held responsible for all this.

But even as his rage burned like a star within him, he was able to keep himself under control for the moment.

There was a part of him that acknowledged the absurdity of his current circumstances. Here he was, serving a being like Salem, whose plans for humanity were far from benevolent, and in doing so had committed numerous atrocities… and all just for the shot at killing Ozpin for good.

Thanks to the immortal magic wielder, he knew well the curse of resurrection Ozpin had been given. Simply killing him would only cause him to eventually revive in the body of another. Certainly, such a thing would make his quest for vengeance a fruitless one.

But even so, he would not give up. His emotions may have dulled immensely over the years as the result of the many times he's been exposed to humanity's darker side, but never had he ever given up once he's put his mind to something.

For his sister, he will find a way to kill Ozpin for good. And if that means having to continue testing out and mastering this new ability of his, then so be it. If it means having to kill every huntsmen and huntress placed in his path, then he will slay them without mercy.

And all of this shall be on Ozpin's hands, not his. This all could have been avoided if he'd simply denied Gretchen entry.

And now, one day soon, he'll deny Ozpin his next shot at life.

He swore it.

* * *

 **That's right, time to start introducing the other star players in this fic! Won't reveal anything, but I have some plans here for Hazel that I hope you all will find entertaining. Same thing goes for Watts and Tyrian, both of whom will be making their debut in due time as well!**

 **And don't think I've forgotten about what I've written up until now about Cinder and Neo and the White Fang. They'll be getting their time in the spotlight soon too!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	22. Chapter 22

If you haven't seen Ready or Not, then I seriously recommend it – it was pretty damn awesome! I went into it expecting a fairly typical horror comedy movie and in some ways, it is, but it's just so unapologetically over the top for its genre that it was thoroughly enjoyable. Most of the characters had just enough substance to them that it really piqued my curiosity in regards to the specifics of their pasts and while the rest weren't exactly the most fleshed out, the roles they played out were played so well that they were still pretty funny to watch.

And of course, that's to say nothing of the actual action within the movie. And boy, let me tell you, the poor bride really went through a lot in this movie, ha ha. In immediate hindsight, it really makes me wonder just how/why the family even lasted as long as they did, but eh, it is what it is. Doesn't make the bride's ordeal any less horrifying/awesome to watch.

Now then, other than that, how are things, you guys? Hope all is fairly well in your lives. To those of you in school, hope classes go well. To those of you that work, may your jobs not heap too much stress on you. With how hot it is recently in my part of the world, I can only imagine how much more unbearable the heat and mugginess must be in other parts of the world for you all, especially if you're going to school/work under such conditions, to say nothing further of whatever stressors there may be there. Stay cool and safe out there!

Now then, to actually address some story related matters. Firstly, to those of you who don't have much interest in Hazel and by extension the rest of the antagonists, I'm actually in agreement with you – they all have semi-unique designs, but beyond that aren't exactly the most fleshed out characters in RWBY (not that the main characters are that much better either, in my personal opinion). But that said, it's naturally the goal of any fanfic writer to put their own spin on the characters we choose to have in our stories, so hopefully what I have planned for Hazel and the others in this fic will be enough to make them appealing to you in one form or another.

Secondly, I'm also well aware of Hazel's hypocrisy and it's a real dark mark against him in canon material since so far, aside from his quiet moments of honor, it's his primary personality trait. But like stated above, I aim to try and flesh him out a bit in order to explain his hypocrisy a bit better. By no means am I trying to justify or even excuse his moral myopia, but I do aim to at least make him fleshed out enough that you guys will hopefully look at him and go 'okay, I can roll with this much.'

Here's to hoping I succeed!

Chapter 22

Jaune and his team awoke early the next morning and immediately set out to begin their mission in earnest.

The blond teen's immediate desire had been to go out and try tracking down the Grimm, seeing as he highly doubted they'd be intelligent enough to effectively cover whatever tracks they'd undoubtedly left behind. However, doing that would deprive Sol of one defender and that would be horribly unfair to his team to have them focus on keeping the town safe while he went out hunting.

Besides, just because their mission was to deal with the Grimm should it come down to it, the goal was still to ultimately ensure Sol's safety anyways. In which case, it would be better to first focus on securing the town.

As Dean had told them last night, the townsfolk had done their part in repairing the damage done by the Grimm, but as JNPR set out and took a closer look at said repair jobs, they could tell said repairs weren't exactly the best. Jaune didn't doubt the townspeople's skills at manual labor, but he suspected they were much more rattled by the Grimms' attacks than they realized, easily missing what should've otherwise been obvious mistakes in their work.

Right then, so they had their first task of the day. "Nora, Ren, can I leave you to fix up the repairs on this side of the town?" Jaune spoke. "Pyrrha and I can take the others."

Ren nodded. "Of course. But first, we should all go together to get the tools and materials needed."

Jaune agreed to this and the four of them went to do just that, heading for the barns on the town's edge and, after speaking to the owners who were already up and at it, acquired the materials they needed.

After doing so, Jaune directed Nora and Ren to the spots he particularly wanted them to focus on while then motioning to where he and Pyrrha would be working for now.

"Afterwards, we'll go patrol the paths leading to and from Sol," Jaune explained. "When we do, make a map and mark any and all landmarks – trees that are particularly bigger or smaller than the others around it, any streams or unusual formations… and especially any and all tracks, if you can spot any. The Grimm may not exactly be using the roads to head to the town, but we can't rule it out for now."

Giving out his orders, they all went to work.

And so, their day was off to quite the busy start.

Having been out on the frontier by himself for quite some time, Jaune was more than used to such manual labor, but a glance to Pyrrha as she worked alongside him told him that she wasn't.

To be expected; during their long talk on the night of the dance, she'd revealed to him that all she really did while growing up was train, so she was lacking quite a bit when it came to other things. Being out here on the frontier was one such thing that she wasn't exactly used to.

But as he showed her how to properly repair the broken wooden fences and patch up busted walls, she quickly caught on and they started making progress.

They'd started this task at the crack of dawn, but before any of them knew it, hours went by and now it was closer to noon than it was to the morning.

Even though it was just as cloudy and cool as it was yesterday, the constant moving and lifting they were doing was resulting in a nice little sweat being worked up, more for Pyrrha than him, but still.

"Thank you for your work," spoke the kind lady whose barn wall they were fixing up right now. She was a moose Faunus who lived here with her husband and three kids, all of whom were currently tending to the fields.

"You're welcome," Pyrrha replied, giving the lady the same bright and cheery smile she most likely gives all the time to interviewers. "We're glad to just be able to help."

The lady, Arnett, was in quite the chipper mood. "I know the mayor probably told you already, but it really means more than we can say to have you respond to our request. We'd thought that, well, it would ultimately be up to ourselves to try dealing with the problem."

At that, Pyrrha paused in her lifting of a sheet of metal to look at Arnett in concern. As she was using her semblance to lift and hold the metal sheet in place for Jaune to pound into place, it sort of just hovered motionlessly in place.

"What exactly do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat worried by those words. "Is it… is it common for you all having to defend yourselves like this?"

Though Jaune simply grabbed the floating metal sheet to hammer into place, he was also listening keenly to their conversation, a silent grimace on his face.

It was another one of those things that people knew on an intellectual level, but to have it directly explained to you by someone who lives it, it can be a real mood-crusher.

It's made abundantly clear at classes in Beacon and the other academies that living outside the kingdoms is a huge gamble for people. Certainly, they'll have more immediate access to certain resources and can therefore become very self-reliant, but they really have to work hard to make things go right. Also, because they live outside the kingdoms, they tend to not be as quick to progress in terms of technology, leaving them with outdated methods of communication amongst other things.

And of course, living outside the kingdoms means being without the protection living within one offers. This meant that more often than not, it would be up to the people living out there to look out for themselves against Grimm and bandits. While it would not be entirely impossible to call the kingdoms for help, however, the further out they lived, the less likely it was for them to receive help.

Sol, while hardly the farthest settlement he's ever seen, was still plenty far enough away from Vale's walls to result in obvious differences between them in terms of economy, culture, and resources.

And these were things Arnett was now explaining to Pyrrha, the woman tapping her thick antlers almost sheepishly. "W-Well, out here, it's mainly up to us all to look out for bandits and the like. Living away from the kingdom may give us a lot of independence, but that also means calling for help when we really need it isn't exactly an option. And since we're not exactly the most caught up with technology either, sending out requests in the first place isn't a quick thing to do."

Arnett now looked downcast. "…If we could have contacted Vale faster, then maybe the deaths of the Whiteflowers and Lucens could've been avoided… but since we can't, well… this is the current situation."

"I… That…." Pyrrha began. She hung her head. "…I'm sorry."

Arnett looked at her in surprise and then immediately began to wave off her apology. "O-Oh no, it's fine, dear! I didn't mean to sound as if I was guilting you or anything!"

"B-But…"

"Pyrrha," Jaune began gently. Finishing hammering in the last metal sheet, he looked at her. "It's okay. Out here on the frontier, it's just how things are. Things are always going to be different depending on where one lives. Said differences are just much more noticeable out here. And in the end, huntsmen and huntresses can't be everywhere at once – there's just not enough of us to go around nor are we that fast in covering such large distances. And of course, we'd have to know there's a threat out there for us to head there in the first place. Now, that isn't to say we should just be okay with all this, but in the end, all we can do is do our best."

Arnett's smile returned. "Your friend is right, dear. Though some other towns out there may not be the most accepting of 'city folk,' I like to think everyone here in Sol have a bit of a better grasp on how things are. Everyone is different when it comes to what they like and are comfortable with. And us Sol folk like what it is we do. This town wouldn't have come to be in the first place if our ancestors were that uncomfortable with the risks."

"…Right," Pyrrha admitted in a somewhat embarrassed but still sorrowful voice. "I'm sorry if my words caused any offense."

Arnett just laughed. "You kind of like to apologize a lot, don't you?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth, obviously to apologize again only to catch herself just before she could utter the first syllable. Her face turned just slightly red instead, getting Arnett to laugh even harder. Even Jaune smiled a bit.

"Anyways, thank you again for the help so far," the Faunus woman said. "If there's anything you need help with too, just ask, okay?"

"…Then, in that case…" Jaune began, getting her attention.

He then told her the general plan he'd come up with so far. After telling her about the roads, he then asked her if there was anything out there to take note of.

Arnett was quiet for a minute as she thought. "Hmm, we do have a stream to the southwest. That's where we mainly get water from since the Grimm don't really approach from that direction ever, but other than that, that's about it. Sorry, I don't actually do much traveling out of town." She looked sheepish. "I mainly take care of the farm here while my husband, Kraven, does the traveling. But I think my kids liked to travel out that way, at least… well, before the recent Grimm attacks. So, they might know something."

"If it's not a bother, can you ask them for us?" Jaune inquired. "Ah, but it doesn't have to be right away though; Pyrrha and I still need to do a few more repairs before we get around to meeting up with our friends to start our patrol."

The woman nodded. "Oh, of course, of course! It's already almost time for lunch, so I can ask them then. And you two and the others are more than welcome to join us if you'd like."

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look before focusing back on the woman, smiles on their faces. "Thank you for the offer. If it's alright with the other two, we'll be taking you up on the offer most likely."

Knowing Nora, there would be no 'most likely,' but rather an 'absolutely.' The auburn-haired girl loved eating almost as much as she loved fighting. Still, it helps to be polite about things.

Talking with Arnett a moment longer, she finally bid them goodbye for the time being, waving at them as she then walked back to her home, intending to start making lunch.

As the wall was now finished being patched up, Jaune and Pyrrha gathered up their tools and started making their way around the barn to the other side, where another massive hole could be found, the result of a huge Ursa having charged right through the side of it.

"Think we should have warned her about Nora's appetite?" Pyrrha asked.

"No. Instead, I think we should warn Nora about lunch," Jaune replied with a bit of an impish smirk.

"Oh, why's that?" Pyrrha asked playfully, noticing his mood.

"You couldn't tell? Going by the smell on Arnett and her house, they're not meat-eaters."

"Oh my…"

Indeed, Arnett and her family were vegetarians. And Nora, aside from being a pancake lover, was a big time meat-lover…

"I guess we'll have to make sure she doesn't cry too much when we do come for lunch," Pyrrha commented, trying not to giggle too much.

"I don't know," Jaune began to quip. "You really think we can ever stop Nora from expressing herself?"

"Fair enough."

They went about the last of their repair jobs in a much better mood than before, taking small and lighthearted jabs at their rambunctious teammate.

At least they'll be having some entertainment to go along with lunch.

* * *

Hazel, having gotten some additional sleep since his reassessment of his current circumstances, sat up slowly and went about the process of making himself some breakfast.

He'd gone and hunted down some small animals yesterday and went about expertly rationing them for his own use.

Having killed, drained and skinned some wild rabbits and squirrels – it never ceased to amaze him somewhat what kind of wildlife roamed certain areas – he went about pulling some pieces of meat out of the pack he'd specifically made for it and went about cooking the meat slowly.

And all the while, the Grimm under his control watched in silence. At some point, they'd seemingly tired of growling at him and had settled down into something of an inactive state. Inactive in the sense that they weren't asleep – Grimm were not capable of sleeping – but rather that they quite literally weren't doing anything other than just sitting there.

They eyed the cooking meat in disinterest before proceeding to go back to staring at nothing in particular, something which got Hazel to snort a bit in bemusement.

In the short time he's been practicing this ability of his, he's gotten used to the various quirks the Grimm seemed to display, to the point where whatever interest, however slight, he'd initially had faded away.

In the end, Grimm were painfully simple creatures. Certainly, years upon years of life may lead to the development of genuine intelligence for them, but said intelligence was entirely geared to killing humans and Faunus more effectively. The sense of self-preservation they develop as they age was ultimately for the goal of making sure they live as long as possible so that they may kill as many as possible before they're ultimately slain themselves.

Truly, the Grimm were brutally simple creatures. But in Hazel's opinion, so was humanity. Humanity was a beast all its own with how greedy and vicious each individual could be. And no matter how complex some people may paint themselves or their ideals as being, they were ultimately motivated by one painfully simple thing:

Want.

It didn't matter if someone sought justice or revenge. It didn't matter if someone was prone to saving people or killing them.

Good and evil… they were concepts made by humans to try and justify or at the very least excuse whatever action it is that they take. But at the end of the day, whatever it is that they do of their own free will, it is precisely because they wanted to do it in the first place.

…

This was something he understood. After all, his sister had wanted to try and become a huntress, to be a force of 'good.' She'd wanted to do this because she had been inspired by his acts of good as she'd grown up even though he'd made his own 'want' clear, which is to say, for her to stop from going to Beacon and potentially becoming like… well, becoming like him.

…Once upon a time, when he'd been far younger and therefore much more naïve, he too had wanted to do 'good.' Which is to say, he'd wanted to help people. Doing good made him feel good and so, at the time, it had just seemed like something perfectly natural to do.

But at some point, as he ventured to more and more different places, he got to meet more people… and in doing so, see up close and personal what cruelties and horrors others could and would commit for the sake of desire.

Before he'd known it, he'd gotten sucked into that world of darkness. His near-overwhelming want to help others had driven him to greater and greater extremes to eliminate the figurative darkness of humanity, all for the sake of ensuring the happiness and safety of the innocent.

Except.

Except, sometimes, those 'innocent people' had really been just as bad as the ones he'd fought against, having just been hiding their darkness so that they may make use of his great strength.

Even after he'd started to catch onto such people, he'd still gone about combatting the most horrifying of deviants – bloodthirsty bandits, cruel slave traffickers, serial killers, vicious gangs and more. At some point, the constant fighting against such people began to wear him down. Not physically – none had ever been capable of challenging his strength – but mentally, spiritually.

He can't quite recall when, but at some point, he'd completely drifted over to this world of 'darkness,' where genuine thanks for his efforts no longer existed. Instead, what had taken its place were people that were either too scared of him to say or do anything… or those that sought to use him, to bend him to their will.

Apathy had set in hard during that time, but even then he'd gone on fighting just because that was all he'd ever known, the only thing he'd ever been good at in order to help others.

He'd suffocated under such a stifling layer of depression and madness for so long that it hadn't been until he'd returned home one day on a whim that he'd even met Gretchen in the first place. Looks like his parents had been busy during his years traveling.

And she… she had just been so _pure_. So much so that not long after meeting her for the first time, she'd quickly wormed her way into his dulled and dying heart and warmed him from within. She'd reminded him of what it actually meant to be happy, a godsend since their parents hadn't exactly been model citizens to start with anyways. In hindsight, it was amazing he'd ever turned out the way he had initially. And that went triply so for Gretchen.

But just because she'd become his guiding light in life hadn't undone all that he's seen and done in by that point. Just because Gretchen had served as his driving force in life by that point didn't mean that suddenly all the hardships he's gone through and the impacts they'd had on him were undone in the blink of an eye. He'd still been just as broken down and warped by the atrocities he's seen and the atrocities he'd had to commit to prevent further ones from ever happening again.

It had been precisely because of how worn down he'd become that he had so desperately wished for his sister to never go down the same road he'd gone down. Though his body practically moved on autopilot to always lend out a helping hand, his mind and very soul begged otherwise. But unfortunately, his thoughts, though acknowledged by Gretchen, never fully got across to her – instead, she'd been too caught up in the image his actions painted of him (not that she'd ever truly known what exactly he's done) and wanted to be just like him.

Hazel recalled sending message after message to Ozpin, who was already headmaster of Beacon at the time, to not accept Gretchen's application since convincing her on his own clearly wasn't going to work. But that man had simply written off each and every increasingly desperate message and ended up accepting his sister's application…

…And later, during the girl's very first year there, she'd gone on a training mission that had gone horribly wrong.

And now… now she, the one thing that he'd had left in his life, was gone.

All because she'd 'wanted' to be like him and Ozpin had 'wanted' to just believe that she'd had what it takes to walk such a dangerous path.

Want. Want. Want.

Gretchen may have justified it to him back then of being just like him, to help others, but that 'want' of hers had had no real reason behind it other than that poor and ill-defined one. And Ozpin, the bastard, had wanted another little ignorant soldier under his command to battle against Salem's own forces at the time. He may try and excuse this want as being for the greater good, but even Hazel, as weary a soul as he was, knew that plenty of things could've been done differently.

And so, because he no longer had nothing else to live for other than revenge, he now had no other 'want' than to take revenge for his sister's death.

It was as simple as that now.

"…Haaaa," he sighed.

Really now, he thought. Had he always been this melodramatic? To be all on his lonesome really was a horrible thing.

…But even then, he meant every word.

This world had broken his very soul down bit by bit, leaving him a cold and bitter man. Gretchen had been his only solace ever since she came into his life. And now that she was gone, all that mattered was getting revenge for her against that bastard Ozpin.

If that means helping Salem, then so be it. After all that he's seen and done, his faith in humanity's ability to ever better itself wasn't exactly at a high point here, so if the ancient woman ever did succeed in her plans, it wouldn't exactly be that big a loss in his eyes.

After eating his breakfast in complete silence, he cleaned up and then stood tall, his muscles bristling as he did so.

Later today, he will conduct another little 'test' of this new ability of his.

Time to see just how well the Grimm could pull off a truly coordinated attack on the town of Sol.

* * *

After some time being spent having a delightful lunch with Arnett and her family (and true to form, Nora had cried over the lack of meat, much to everyone's entertainment), it was time for team JNPR to roll out though not before helping the woman clean up a bit afterwards.

Arnett and her husband, Kraven, had introduced the team to their three children; their eldest daughter, Erin who was just older than the Beacon team by two years, and their twin boys, Arthur and Sean, fourteen years of age and about as energetic and unruly – but well-meaning – as one would expect such teens to be.

Sure enough, the three kids knew their way around the area pretty well and thus had been entrusted with giving the team something of a tour along the roads, but not before first stopping by Dean's place to inform him of where they'll be for the time being.

After that, they'd taken off, going in separate directions – Ren and Nora went with the twins down one path while Erin led Jaune and Pyrrha down another.

And in comparison to her younger brothers, both of whom Jaune felt were like male versions of Nora in many respects, Erin was something of a wallflower in terms of personality, shy and withdrawn.

It certainly made for one hell of a contrast given her very tall and thick stature; the girl clearly took a lot after her father Kraven, who himself sported a thick and extremely muscular physique, though she was still plenty feminine, Jaune noted clinically.

"Thanks again for showing us the way," he spoke to the girl with a smile. That said, he couldn't help but feel just slightly uncomfortable here – Erin would frequently look at him as they walked, with an intense look in her green eyes that reminded him just a bit too much of Isaac's own daughter back in Vale.

"R-Right, no problem," she replied in a quiet and almost squeaky voice, not quite befitting of her build, clearly honed over many rigorous years helping her father with manual labor.

"So," Pyrrha began. Jaune looked at her and blinked in mild confusion at the somewhat irritated expression on her face. Had Erin somehow offended her? "Just what sights are there to see out here?"

"O-Oh, not much, really," Erin said, looking away quickly as she took to scratching the side of the bear ears atop her head, yet another trait she'd inherited from her father. "This path is a pretty straightforward one – follow it long enough and you'll hit the next town, which would be Axiant."

"There's absolutely nothing worth noting?" Jaune now asked as he looked up a bit at the girl, who was just a few inches taller than him. "Like a rock or land formation that's really out of the blue compared to the rest of the landscape?"

Erin shook her head. "No, not really. But, uhm, compared to my brothers, I don't exactly… adventure out there much… sorry." She tilted her head down in what appeared to be shame.

Jaune just shook his head gently though. "No need to apologize. It's not like any of you ever could have seen something like this coming. But if by chance you do remember something, just let us know, alright?"

Her face was looking mighty red now as she once again stared at him intently for a second before looking away. "R-Right!" she squeaked out.

Beside him, Pyrrha made a very quiet sound of mild bemusement and it seemed like it was aimed at him. Now he was really confused – just what did he do? Hadn't they gotten closer since the night of the dance?

…Ah well, he could worry about that later; have to focus on the mission first.

So, on and on the three of them walked. Like Erin had pointed out, the path was indeed a straightforward, though Erin did pause every now and then to point small 'unofficial' paths that did branch out from the main one. According to her, these smaller paths were ones that some people tended to take since they would eventually lead to where a lot of wildlife could be found to hunt. These paths were traveled down just enough that the grass was almost permanently flat and the ground disturbed, making it stand out compared to the rest of the otherwise untouched forestry.

"Uhm, so do you really think the Grimm might try coming down the paths?" Erin eventually asked at some point as she showed them the way down each path, not completely, but enough for them to get a feel for the area. "I-I mean, n-not that I'm doubting you or anything, but ever since the beginning, they'd only attacked from past the fields. There no paths out there. Not official ones, anyways."

"We might be overdoing things a bit here," Pyrrha spoke before Jaune could. "But with how unusual these Grimm have been acting, better safe than sorry."

The blond teen nodded. "With how advanced these Grimms' intelligence seems to be, using more human-like tactics wouldn't be too big a stretch for them. Utilizing feints is a staple among strategies, so for all we know the Grimm might have only been attacking from past the fields to get all of Sol to prepare for future attacks from that direction only to then blindside you all from another direction instead."

Erin shuddered. "I-Is that really going to happen?" The poor girl sounded on the verge of hysteria.

Jaune silently cursed at himself. Given the circumstances, all of the townspeople had to be doing what they can to keep calm lest the negativity potentially draw in more Grimm. Yet here he was casually talking about things that could make the previous attacks look like nothing in comparison.

Even if he was merely speaking the truth, there was such a thing as subtlety and tactfulness.

"Well, it's only a possibility," he responded quickly and smoothly. He patted her shoulder gently. "Like Pyrrha just said, better safe than sorry. But don't worry – no matter how the Grimm end up attacking Sol next, we'll be there to keep you all safe. You have our word."

He spoke with quiet conviction, but it was enough to placate the girl… though the way her breath quickened when he patted her shoulder along with the look in her eyes was really worrying him now.

"Y-You'll protect us…? P-P-Protect m-me…?" she huffed

"Of course," he said with the same level of conviction, though inwardly he was now wondering if maybe he should stop digging himself a grave here.

Erin backed away from him, cupping her own reddening face as she huffed and puffed, the look in her eyes worsening.

Jaune worried.

Pyrrha snorted in annoyance.

Erin continued being weird and Jaune realized that there was just no backing out now, quite belatedly so.

Right, time to get back on track.

"Now that all said, shall we continue?" Jaune spoke. "We still have a few more paths to mark, right?"

"…R-Right," Erin replied after taking a moment to calm down.

Getting back onto business, Erin proceeded to show them down a few more paths just as intended, Jaune and Pyrrha marking them down on the map data they'd been compiling on their scrolls, which thankfully still worked well out here on the frontier. Technology sure was amazing, Jaune pondered.

Anyways, despite having not traveled particularly far down any path – it wouldn't do to wander too far away from the town – they'd still spent several hours out there. Now it was time for them to return, at which point they made good time returning to the town.

Bidding Erin a quick goodbye, Jaune and Pyrrha promptly returned to the inn for the time being. As they did so, they passed through the center of town, where they occasionally stopped to speak with a handful of townspeople, especially the ones manning the various stores around there.

With a message being sent to them by Ren saying they were only now making their way back to town, Jaune felt it would be okay to pass the time waiting for the N and R of his team and so he swiftly went about helping some store owners set up displays and move some inventory around. As for Pyrrha, she too helped out a bit before eventually settling for just speaking with the townspeople, who'd been drawn to her looks and style.

While she was getting somewhat mobbed by several men clearly interested in her, Jaune could only look on from afar in slight concern. She seemed to have a handle on things, clearly used to this sort of thing, no doubt because of her fame and resulting fandom, but he resolved to step in should things go to far.

In the meantime, though…

"So then what's your game plan?" asked the storeowner, a spider Faunus in his late twenties. He was looking to Jaune in interest as the two of them shuffled some empty boxes around to make some room for new stock. "Have you guys already figured out how to deal with those damned Grimm?"

"Somewhat, yes," Jaune answered. "We just scoped out the surrounding paths, got a lay of the land. Now that we've a good idea of the terrain, traversing it efficiently shouldn't be that hard. But just to confirm, the earliest the Grimm have attacked was about an hour after the sun begins to set?"

The store owner, named Thane, nodded. "Yeah. But they seem to favor coming after the town when it's night. Not like it's exactly a big deal for us since we're Faunus, but you know… darkness is just a scary concept, yeah?"

Jaune nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know."

This is but one of numerous conversations he's had in the meantime, having used this time to not only help the people out with whatever chores that needed to get done but to also do some additional intelligence gathering.

"That aside, anything else you can tell me?" Jaune questioned as he finished up the current task. "Like, what Grimm seemed to be out on the frontlines?"

"Honestly, I can't say. Was more concerned with getting myself and my neighbors to safety," Thane replied. "But I think one of the other guys down the road knows. There's this old lady, Marie. She runs the best damn sweets shop in town. She was out and about during most of the attacks since she always takes down the outdoors signs at the same time every day. She probably got a better view of the attacks without having to worry that much for her life."

"Got it. Thanks," Jaune then said with a soft smile.

"No, no, thank you, my man. Any helps means a lot."

Bidding Thane goodbye, Jaune then went outside to fetch Pyrrha, conveniently as she drove off the last guy, who left with a somewhat downcast expression whilst his partner sported a rather embarrassed expression.

Looking at her curiously, his expression alone was enough to prompt her to talk.

"They're all nice people," Pyrrha began. "But the pick-up lines they were trying…" Her cheeks were reddening.

"Ah…" Jaune could only chuckle sheepishly.

Another thing about the people on the frontier, it's that they can often be brutally honest about what they want since they don't exactly have a lot to distract themselves from whatever work they do. So, if they want to get together with someone, well…

"Where to now?" Pyrrha suddenly said, clearly eager to talk about anything other than what just happened.

"Well, there's someone named Marie just further down the road. Apparently, she got a good view of the attacks each time and she wasn't in enough danger to end up getting distracted. But firstly…" He trailed off as his scroll let out a ping, signaling the receiving of a message. Checking it, he hummed. "Looks like Nora and Ren are back. Should be coming down the road right about now."

"Great, let's go meet up then go from there," Pyrrha said.

And so that was exactly what the two partners did.

They linked up with Nora and Ren and together, they bid Arthur and Sean goodbye and watched the twins as they headed home before making their own way to the sweets shop.

Jaune and Pyrrha primarily did all the questioning while poor Ren had to practically keep Nora physically restrained lest she devour the muffins and cupcakes seen in the window display.

"It was mainly the Beowulves at the forefront followed by Ursas?" Pyrrha repeated Marie's words in genuine surprise.

Marie, a cool old lady in her seventies, nodded firmly. "That's right, young missy. Even with my eyes going a bit bad each year, I couldn't mistake those giant shits for anything else, even from afar." Marie bristled a bit, her bushy squirrel tail twitching a bit as she did so. "And wow… been a long time since I've ever seen Grimm up close like that… made me relive some unpleasant memories every time."

"Don't worry," Jaune chipped in. "Soon enough, we'll deal with them and you won't have to relive those memories anymore."

"…Heh. You're a real good kid," Marie said as she looked at him. "I'll be holding you to that then. Now, how about some slices of cake for the road? It'll be on me."

He and Pyrrha tried to decline, but one doesn't simply decline someone that was essentially a tough as nails grandmother figure; they exited the shop all of two minutes later with two slices of cake for each of them plus Nora and Ren.

Ren merely chuckled at the almost defeated looks on their faces, only for Nora to pretty much inhale both slices then shove one of Ren's down his throat, saying that he just had to experience the epic sweetness.

Looks like revenge really was sweet sometimes, Jaune noted as he took his time eating his slices.

But soon it was time to really begin their mission.

After eating their cake, the four of them headed back to the inn for just a short time, which they spent pouring over the map data they'd collected.

"Looks like your side was a bit more adventurous," Pyrrha commented in amusement.

Ren could only nod. "You've no idea how tempted Nora was to try sliding down every slope we came across," he quipped.

When everyone turned to look at Nora in fake exasperation, the girl merely snorted. "Oh come on, those hills were pretty much begging for it!"

"Every hill?" Ren asked knowingly.

"Every single one, Renny and you know it!"

Chuckling at the two's banter yet again, Jaune studied the map with great interest.

"Hmm, compared to our side, yours was much more lopsided. Literally," he pointed out.

Due to what he could only assume were literal land-changing events many millennia ago, there was a lot of terrain that was meshed together in such a way as if it were something out of a fantasy novel. Just look at how different the climates of each kingdom was – even when accounting for natural phenomena and the like, each kingdom's geography and topology were so radically different that it was sometimes hard to believe they existed on the same planet.

In the case of the land around Sol, there was plenty of plains to be farmed, followed up by forests that only got thicker going westwards while to the east, it was much more hilly and sunny once you got past a certain point whereas here in Sol itself, it was perpetually cloudy despite the townspeople's ability to create and maintain their own crops.

And as interesting as this was, it was still something of a bad thing.

As far as attacking from the west, including southwest and northwest, there was too much forest for the Grimm to just bumrush the town, though if they ever did use the road to attack, it wouldn't be entirely out of the realm of possibility. This isn't to say that mere trees and rocks would be enough to genuinely impede them but smashing their way through it all would certainly slow them considerably.

However, if the Grimm took the time to circle around and attack from the east, they'd have more than enough open space to really put however great their numbers really are to good use. The town would be overrun and completely flattened in minutes in such a scenario.

The only consolation was that the north and south were nothing but extremely dense forestry, dense enough that this is where the town primarily got their own lumber from. Attacking from either of these two directions would be impossible unless these Grimm were also a hell of a lot stronger than the usual ones encountered so far.

"What's the game plan, fearless leader?" Nora asked, getting serious as she saw his serious expression.

He took a moment to think. His friends waited patiently for him to organize his thoughts.

"Given that the attacks have been coming primarily from the west, you'd think we worry about fortifying that side…" he mumbled. "But I just can't shake the feeling that sooner or later the Grimm will give up that line of attack. Plus, by this point, the whole town is keeping a look out on that side."

"In other words, we'll be looking to patrol and guard the east," Ren surmised.

Jaune nodded. "Looks that way. Still, depending on how things go, we should patrol the west on occasion too. And though it's been many years since, I could try and set up some simple traps, just to act as alarms if nothing else on the west side."

"Ooooh~ traps?! Why, Jauney, I think you just stole my heart!" Nora proclaimed with a playful smile. "Think it'd be cool if we rig some of my grenades with them?"

"That's… actually not a bad idea." He'd been about to reprimand Nora, but in immediate hindsight that actually sounded like a good idea. If nothing else, it could help thin their numbers.

"We'd better get started then – it's already getting late," Pyrrha chipped in.

Sure enough, it was slowly getting darker outside, which put them all on edge. If they'd chosen to plan this allout downstairs in the diner rather than up here in one of their rooms, the four of them would bet the other patrons would be tensing up too right now.

"Yeah, let's do that," Jaune said.

He then stood up, stretching for a brief moment – only to freeze when a howl could be heard off in the distance.

His friends paused in what they were doing as well.

This only lasted for all of a split second, however, and they swiftly exited the room and bolted out of the inn in record time.

That had been the howl of a Beowulf.

Another attack was just about to start.

* * *

From approximately two miles away, Hazel stood with his arms folded over his chest and with his eyes closed as he concentrated hard on his new ability.

Keeping the Grimm from turning on him was as easy as breathing by this point but directing them in combat was a bit more difficult still, especially since in order to effectively lead them, he had to concentrate to see through their eyes.

Currently, he was looking through the eyes of the Beowulves sent ahead of the rest. Said Grimm were in the midst of traveling down the sole road leading directly to the town before splitting up near the end, heading into the forest areas near the town's edge. Doing so would cause them a bit of difficulty in maneuvering past the trees, but this was an intentional – a delayed attack.

Meanwhile, the Ursas were practically stampeding down the main road, the continuous howls of the Beowulves doing well in covering up the loud steps of the Ursas.

The bear-like Grimm were thus the first to reach the town and by then, the populace had already heard the cries of the Beowulves and thus had started to take action, for sure enough through the Ursas' eyes he could see some new barricades that hadn't been there last time.

Not like it would do them much good.

With just a thought, he had the two Ursas closest to the town charge forward just a little faster and head for the marketplace, smashing through the support beams that held up some of the storefronts. Even if only vaguely, he could hear the breaking of the hard wood and the collapsing of the ceilings above the walkways.

Meanwhile, the other Ursas spread out and headed for the nearest barns, their large bodies crashing through the thinner parts of the fences and trampling over the grassy plains.

"…Hrm." Hazel was a bit perplexed.

He'd known from the start that the people of Sol were a rather resilient bunch, quick to act… but the repairs he'd noticed just now to the fence and barn walls were done too fully and too well to be their work, which he's grown familiar with over the course of his attacks on them.

In other words, they'd gotten what felt like multiple people to come to their aid.

"Huntsmen?" he murmured.

He got his answer not even seconds later.

Just before the two Ursas that had reached the marketplace could go any further, four individuals came barreling down from the opposite direction and in the span of an eyeblink, one of them, a girl wielding a large hammer, swung her weapon and struck the side of one Ursa's head with tremendous force, supplemented by what appeared to be a grenade of all things.

The Ursa died on impact and its body swiftly dissipate into nothingness just as another person, a blond, lashed out with an impossibly swift sword swing and cut the other Ursa vertically in two.

Grimacing as he lost sight through the Ursas, he switched to the senses of the other Grimm closest to these people for another look.

And in doing so, he was just barely able to hear the cries of one of them.

"Nora, you and me will fight them all head on! Focus on the ones closest to town! Pyrrha, Ren, fire support – shoot every Grimm that the two of us can't get to!"

It was the blond that yelled this out and it was his face that the other approaching Ursa saw just before the man attacked and decapitated it.

…No, not a man – a boy. A teen. So were the other three.

"Teenagers now…?" Hazel growled out, somewhat perturbed.

Up until now, he's fought many different people, but for the longest time he's primarily gone up against people closer to him in age; the last time he's ever even seen a teenager in a fight was when he himself was still in his early twenties.

Given Sol's distance relative to Vale, these teens likely came from Beacon… meaning only one thing.

"Ozpin, you foul being…!" He must have sent the teens here to investigate the situation caused by his little training sessions with this new ability.

To think that man would send teens out like this… how disgusting! He'd long since doubted how sincere Ozpin's words about Gretchen's death being the result of a genuine training mishap, but now he was starting to wonder differently.

…

…

…No matter. He's come too far to just be abruptly changing his mind now of all times.

"Ozpin, just know that their blood will be on your hands if they have to die here," he muttered, cursing that unkillable parasite.

Nonetheless, teens or not, they clearly knew what they were doing. Thanks to his command for the Ursas to take front and center during the attack, they were thus the first victims the blond teen and the hammer girl tore through, both of them exhibiting rather prodigious strength and speed.

The blond in particular proved to be abnormally strong in comparison to the others, moving with a speed and precision that he's seen in huntsmen much older than the teen.

In the span of just a moment, the Ursas he'd sent to attack the barns were nearly wiped out completely. Only a few were able to try attacking in kind, but even with Hazel providing them direction, the blond and hammer girl would easily duck and weave past the Ursas' wild paw swipes and strike at their exposed stomachs.

Meanwhile, through the eyes of the Beowulves, he could spot the other two teens – Pyrrha and Ren from what he just heard – taking up positions atop the buildings furthest from the action the blond and hammer girl were engaging in and were sniping at the Beowulves that were now making their way out of the forest and towards the sides of the barns and town.

Realizing quickly just how many Grimm have just died, Hazel issued an order for several Beowulves and just three Ursas to cease heading towards the town and merely hang back while the rest spread out even further.

Attacking from the areas directly north and south of the towns was all but impossible since the forestry there was much too thick for the Grimm to effectively charge from, but so long as he had them proceed slowly, it wasn't entirely out of the picture.

Besides, this was now a good chance to see if flanking the town would be possible even from this distance and level of control since he could only get so far away before his hold on the Grimm weakens.

At this current distance, he could still hijack the Grimms' senses to an extent and issue orders for them to follow, but to what degree they'd be able to follow them was now different.

Sure enough, the Grimm he sent to the northern and southern areas seemed to be having some problems properly executing his orders, charging in too quickly and ending up getting stuck in between the many thick trees there.

While that was happening, the four teens were making incredibly quick work of the Grimm that had been sent directly ahead.

Hazel sighed; even while providing as much information to the Grimm on what was going on and what the teens were doing, it wasn't as if he could actually bequeath them his level of strength and expertise in combat. He may be able to provide the Grimm closest to him with all the information he wants, but it's still up to them to process said information and act accordingly based on the orders given.

That, and there was one other factor made swiftly apparent-.

"Almost done, Jauney!" he could hear the hammer girl cry out giddily as she shot a grenade at one of the few Beowulves he'd sent right at her. The grenade hit it head on and the explosion of pink Dust was the last thing Hazel could see through that Beowulf's eyes.

He then switched visions to the last Beowulf that had charged towards town, just in time to see the blond leap directly towards it once again with a speed that no one his age should be capable of barring a semblance.

The Beowulf, acting of its own accord now, tried to lunge forward and bite into the incoming teen's face, only for it to fail spectacularly as the teen suddenly lowered himself and then swung one of his blades upwards in a reverse grip, the Beowulf looking down just in time to see itself get bisected from the groin upwards.

As its body split apart and so did its vision, Hazel glared through the Beowulf's eyes at the blond teen, studying him in that split second before the Beowulf's sliced halves dissipated.

Humming now thoughtfully, Hazel now quite calmly came to the conclusion that his attack just now had been a complete and utter failure.

He had by no means been not seen this coming, but he'd been expecting fully fledged huntsmen and huntresses to eventually come to Sol's aid and even then, he hadn't thought that would happen so soon. Given the lack of advanced technology out here, he'd been expecting for Sol's request for help to take much longer to reach Vale and for it to even go unanswered for a while longer.

Had Ozpin perhaps realized he was here somehow and thus sent in a team that much sooner? It was possible. Indeed, in hindsight, it was actually likely that Ozpin had been doing his best to track his general movements, in which case it shouldn't have been too hard to realize that Sol would've been next in line along his current path.

Sighing in annoyance at himself for his short-sightedness, Hazel gave the silent order for the remainder of the Grimm to retreat.

The ones that he'd order to hang back responded to said order instantly, turning tail and fleeing with nary a growl. As for the ones now stuck in the northern and southern parts of town, it took them seconds longer for them to even acknowledge his order, but they did eventually cease their futile struggling and began an awkward about-face, attempting to now wiggle out of the thick forests in order to return back to camp.

As for Hazel himself, he remained where he was, staring in the general direction of Sol, deep in thought.

Those teens had fought surprisingly well, though to be fair to himself again he hadn't been anticipating such a thing for a while longer. In any case, they were now a new problem that had to be dealt with. Should they return to Vale and give Ozpin confirmation that the Grimm were 'behaving oddly' as he was sure had been stated in Sol's request, then that information would be disseminated amongst all other trainees and hunstmen under Ozpin's thrall who would then be on the look out for any other such oddities.

Though he didn't even remotely fear the possibility of being hunted and confronted more frequently in the future, that didn't mean he'd like for his path to be obstructed so often.

In which case… those teens needed to be killed. If not by the Grimm he could subjugate then by his own two hands.

In fact…

"Hrm."

The look in that blond teen's eyes… something about it reminded Hazel so very much of himself from a time long ago, back when he'd first been hardened by the experiences and struggles he'd gone through yet still before he'd started to become numb to the world.

That blond… there was no doubt about it. He was a 'hero of justice.' Not one of those fake ones that just pretended to be morally upstanding and righteous, but the real deal… just as he had once been.

That teen wouldn't simply roll over and die, no, he wouldn't. Even if he somehow was able to send hundreds of Grimm or even more after him, that blond would fight to his very last breath and further beyond that.

No Grimm would be a match for him.

Therefore…

As his thoughts went on, Hazel's entire body bristled and his muscles practically swelled as the mere thought of battle entered his mind.

As new plans started to form within his head, Hazel finally turned around and began his trek back to his camp.

He would hold off for a few days, he decided, give the town just a bit of time to recover and let them all, those teens included, eventually relax…

…Then, just as they begin to think the threat might not be what they thought it to be, he would swoop in with his Grimm and crush them all.

But first, he would need more Grimm to do that in order to ensure absolute victory.

Therefore, it was time to begin the subjugation.

And in the end, there will be no survivors. He will make sure of that.

* * *

 **Another build-up chapter as you can see, this time meant to establish Hazel just a bit more than before. As you can see, his line of thinking isn't exactly the most logical nor stable in any way. In a way, I suppose you can think of him as being somewhere in between EMIYA and EMIYA Alter in terms of mindset and methods. Jaune in turn could basically be described as a more worldly and mature Shirou from before he starts becoming like EMIYA.**

 **Now that said, there's going to be a lot more in terms of comparison going on here than what I just mentioned. Won't be going into detail on that front just yet though and certainly not through an AN of all things, but it will be coming up fairly soon.**

 **As for all the dialogue, that was also very munch intentional - as much as I like RWBY, they really don't focus much on establishing an actual connection between the MCs and others be it through spoken dialogue or gestures. Beyond everyone basically doing things because 'they're friends and also the good guys of the show,' there's really very little connection between them and the citizens that they, as aspiring huntsmen and huntresses, want to protect. Basically, they lack established connections and empathy. Characters like Arnett, Dean, the others back in Vale... they're all meant to show that bond, however slight, that Jaune and his friends have with them, to show that they do indeed do what they do for the sake of not just their friends but the innocent in general. Hope you guys understand.**

 **Other than that, the action at the end was deliberately brief and vague, partially because none of the Grimm, which Hazel can see through, are at a level where they could properly give JNPR an actual challenge but primarily because it is for all intents and purposes a mere appetizer… and the main course is coming up very soon.**

 **Hope you will look forward to it! I swear that there will be plenty of surprises along the way!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	23. Chapter 23

Saw It Chapter 2 just recently and I have to say, it really surpassed my expectations. Now admittedly, the first chapter I liked a lot but prior to watching the sequel, I worried somewhat over the fact it was set in the 2010s (specifically 2016) since I wasn't sure if today's tech would somehow cause the characters to act differently. But instead, they kept to the book quite a lot, though with the brutality and other things obviously toned down.

And of course, the ending was quite different from the book too, but unlike most cases, I was really pleased with it. Normally, I'm okay with bittersweet endings (well, bittersweet in the sense that it's truly grim but still has some hopefulness to it), but a happier ending like this one was really appreciated since, after all the shit Pennywise put everyone through, they deserved genuine happiness.

So, yeah. If you haven't watched both of the new It movies, would definitely recommend giving them a try. And of course, I would also definitely recommend the book as well, though if you do take me up on this, do be warned – the book is a hell of a lot more messed up than the movies, including the TV series from back in the 90s.

Now, regarding RWBY.

So, apparently, according to its wiki, Hazel and Gretchen were twins! Didn't now that. Supposedly, this fact comes from that Amity Arena game. Have to say, feels sort of weird – the way Hazel talks of her 'being only a child' and the like during volume 5, it felt more as if she was considerably younger than him the whole time.

With this in mind, I will be treating this as such, which is to say that in this fic, Gretchen will still be referred to as Hazel's considerably younger sister and not the canonical twin that she apparently is.

A minor nitpick, I know, but better to explain rather than just leave things be. Hope you guys understand.

Also, with volume 7 coming up next month, some things I had initially planned for this fic may change, though I highly doubt it. I'm not too big a stickler on following canon to the letter, but sometimes new info can inspire new ideas in me that feel better suited for my initial plan. But again, I highly doubt volume 7 is suddenly going to alter my plans for this fic… but again, just wanted to keep you all in the loop.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 23

In the hours following the successful takedown of the Grimm, the people of Sol had been in one hell of a joyous mood. Not much sleeping had taken place that night, but rather a lot of partying. Their way of releasing what must be an immense amount of stress, Jaune surmised.

Not that he and his team minded one bit. Given the circumstances, it was far better for the townspeople to be genuinely at ease rather than putting up a façade to deal with the negativity. Though he doubted whatever other Grimm out there in the area would hardly be put-off by the considerable dip in negativity, it's still far better to be safe than sorry.

That said… partying wasn't really his thing.

It was with an awkward smile that he and his teammates were pretty much passed around between townspeople as they all danced the night, music blaring from a bunch of radios the people owned and set to one of the few stations they could pick up from this far out of the kingdom.

Nonetheless, it had been a good time for him to at least try and lighten up a bit. After having carefully stripped off his weapons, he'd even gotten the chance to show off his dance skills, which he'd learned back when he was very young, well before the attack on his family and the awakening of his aura and semblance. Even after all this time, it looked like he still had it going on and to his surprise he ended up getting quite a lot of applause and cheers.

His teammates hadn't been far behind though and while none of them had been particularly good dancers (Pyrrha in particular had proven surprisingly inept at dancing), they'd nonetheless done their best to come up with an impromptu dance number that he took part in.

The townspeople ate it all up with glee and a lot of the kids had tried in their own adorable ways to mimic them, much to everyone's amusement.

All in all, it had certainly been a lively night, even enjoyable for him, though not by much. Sadly, even now his mind was preoccupied with what the sudden attack last night could mean and made it impossible for him to fully lose himself in the moment.

Still, the following morning, Jaune found himself feeling oddly light on his feet, as if coming out of a surreal dream… and it wasn't a bad feeling at all.

Alas, it was time to focus on the mission again.

Because they'd all literally been up all night, just about everyone barring him were now dead tired. Many had retired back to their homes to get some sleep, with business simply going to have to start later than usual. The people that tended the fields and farms dutifully got to work, willing to power through their exhaustion with happy smiles on their faces.

As for his team, though…

"Nora, you really shouldn't be sleeping on the table like that," spoke a tired Ren, the boy sporting slight rings under his eyes. He gently shook a semi-sleeping Nora, who was currently lying on top of a table within the diner, limbs sprawled everywhere and her head hanging off the edge. Drool fell comically from her open mouth and onto the floor.

"Guh… just five more hours," Nora mumbled out in a daze before falling back asleep, with Ren futilely trying to get her up.

Nearby, Pyrrha, who was looking rather haggard herself, simply shook her head. "You're better off just letting her rest, I think," she spoke softly. "She did have a fair bit of sugar."

Ren sighed. "I suppose so. Still, we should at least move her back to the room."

Last night, there'd been a lot of food available for everyone to dig into and Marie from the sweets shop had really gone all out, bringing just about every kind of dessert she had on hand. She'd insisted team JNPR indulge to their hearts' desires.

Hell, she'd even force-fed Nora and Ren some cake, the former more so than the latter, not that Nora had really struggled to break free of the elderly woman's surprisingly strong grip. It had really given her a serious sugar rush, but just like any kind of rush, it always has to end.

This was merely the expected end result.

"Yeah, let's do that," Jaune agreed. "Then let's go find Dean – we need to talk to him about setting the traps we mentioned."

Pyrrha and Ren both agreed and together the three of them quickly took Nora up to their rooms to sleep it off. Pyrrha decided to stay behind in order to shower and change as well as to help Nora do the same later on – the auburn-haired girl's clothes were practically covered in food stains, to say nothing of how crinkled they were.

This left the boys free to go meet Dean, which they did.

Finding the mayor of Sol had proven to be a simple and quick task to accomplish – just like a handful of others, he'd been dead asleep within the diner after a hard night of partying. With just a bit of reluctance, they roused him from his sleep and after helping him clean up a bit, they sat down to talk.

"Sorry about last night," Dean started sheepishly. "We're not usually that hyper, but-."

Jaune shook his head and smiled gently. "It's fine, sir. After weeks of being attacked, I bet you all were on the verge of going nuts. Best to just let it all out."

Dean smiled and bowed his head briefly in thanks for the understanding. "Thanks, lad. It really means a lot to just be able to breathe, you know? We're a brave people, but that doesn't mean we're without fear and anxiety. So, the partying really helped us relax. But now we're already digressing, aren't we? What do you need?"

The mayor now had a serious expression. Looks like he too felt that things weren't quite over just yet.

Still, best to just state things so that they're sure they're on the same page. "In all likelihood, things aren't over just yet," Jaune began quietly. "Given how odd the Grimm had behaved, it wouldn't surprise me if perhaps whichever ones are left are now simply regrouping."

"In other words, there may be another attack," Ren chipped in from his spot next to Jaune, gently sipping from the warm tea he'd gotten just a moment ago.

Dean grimaced a little. "As expected – you lot picked up on that, eh? I'm of the same opinion… and I take it you need something from me to prepare for the next one, right? What'll you need?"

"Just prior to the attack, my team and I were planning to set some traps," Jaune began. "Nothing too crazy – Grimm are rarely inconvenienced by traps unless they're really elaborate and extensive. Still, we figure it would help at least impede their way, make it easier to control the directions they come from and give us something of a safety net should worst come to worst. We just need some lumber and to borrow some barn tools as well, whenever said tools are free. And we're willing to pay if need be."

Dean just let out a slight guffaw and waved a hand. "Bah, you can have all the lumber and tools you need for free, my boys! All you have to do is say the word and I can round up plenty of people to help you set things up too!"

Ren looked a little taken aback by the man's immediate response. Jaune himself was a little surprised too but hid it much better. He's encountered all sorts of people out on the frontier, many that were good people but many others that could only be bluntly described as rotten to the core. Nonetheless, no matter what kind of people he dealt with, just about everyone he's ever met had always been so nonchalant when it came to certain things. And it would seem like in the case of Dean here, he was more than casual when it came to lending a helping hand.

By no means was this understanding and generosity rare, but it wasn't that common either most times. It just went to show Jaune how prevalent kindness can be, however, and it was enough to bring a small yet oh so genuine smile to his scarred face.

"…Thank you, that'd be really appreciated," he responded softly. "In that case, I believe we will take you up on that last offer – the extra hands. If we want these traps made within reasonable timeframe, then it's going to take a fair number of people."

Dean nodded and proceeded to down the coffee he had left untouched this whole time. "How many people do you think you'll need? I can go round 'em up within the hour!"

Doing some quick mental calculations, Jaune started to plan things out. Once he had a solid grasp on what exactly wanted, he laid it all out for Ren and Dean to hear.

It took him perhaps only ten minutes to give them the general overview of what he wanted. After finishing, Dean then excused himself to get started on rounding up the desired number of people.

Sure enough, within the hour, he and Ren proceeded to meet the fifteen people Dean had personally gone to contact, with Nora and Pyrrha now joining them too, having changed and freshened up.

Not long after that, the blond teen went over what he wanted in more specific detail and soon enough, they all had eagerly gotten to work.

* * *

From afar, a small Beowulf watched as a number of people went about gathering some of their excess lumber and began carrying it to a location near the town's western outskirts. From this current distance, it couldn't see what exactly was going on, but could make out the hammer wielding girl exuberantly carrying a dozen of logs all by herself with complete ease.

And Hazel, observing all this through the Beowulf's eyes, grunted.

He'd sent out this small Bewoulf to do some reconnaissance and just as he'd suspected, the people of this town were now making preparations for the next attack. The trainee team from Beacon was taking lead in this endeavor, of course, with the blond rallying them all from one action to the next. He was even using one of his two swords to swiftly cut the lumber up into much smaller and usable pieces.

It went out saying that they were setting traps. What kind of traps exactly, Hazel didn't know; the Beowulf couldn't get close enough to see what exactly they were building without risking being seen. Nonetheless, Hazel has dealt with more than his fair share of traps to have a good feeling for what kind the trainees and townspeople were now setting up.

No doubt they meant simply to hinder the number of directions the Grimm he commanded could safely attack from, which would then force the Grimm into something of a bottleneck situation, where dealing with them would become much easier than having to fight out in a more open area where the Grimm's numbers could be put to better use.

A simple but effective strategy. Sadly, it was a doomed one. As long as he could have this small Beowulf watch where they're generally setting things up, ordering his Grimm to avoid those spots would be easy to do. Even if some traps proved unavoidable from the ground-based Grimm, it would only slow down a few.

And besides… he's now gone and added a few Nevermores to his little army now, having gone out and hunted them down over the course of the night and early morning. Though he's only found five Nevermores that was by no means the largest ones ever, they were still roughly comparable to himself in terms of size, which was an acceptable trait.

Furthermore, he's also managed to bolster his Beowulf forces again, having also found a pack of seven to add to his reduced forces in addition to ten other Ursas.

All in all, his Grimm forces were sitting at just over fifty members, which was by no means an impressive force in the eyes of more experienced huntsmen, but in the eyes of the townspeople and those trainees – barring the blond one – this number would certainly be an intimidating sight to see charging at them.

So long as he can issue simple but effective commands to them all, there should be no problems in dealing with the town of Sol and those trainees.

That said, as tempted as he was to just march to that town right now and take them by surprise, Hazel opted to hold off for now. As secured as he felt in his current forces, he felt it best to wait for now. After all, with the attack yesterday afternoon, everyone would still be on guard. Not that such a thing would really make that big a difference, but better to have them all die as quickly and painlessly as possible rather than to have them potentially drag things out and only suffer.

Just because he no longer cared for humanity and wouldn't hesitate to use people to test the limits of his control over Grimm didn't mean that he relished in the agony he may cause. No, that type of enjoyment was something he'd rather savor with Ozpin – that parasitic wraith was the only one who was truly deserving of such torture.

But even with all this in mind…

"Remember," he began as he looked over all the Grimm under his command, all of them waiting silently in formation nearby. "Don't go after the blond one… he's mine."

After what he's seen yesterday, he could just tell that no Grimm would be able to actually challenge the boy in combat. Not even the larger and more powerful Grimm like Deathstalkers and possibly even Goliaths would be able to take the boy on, at least not one on one.

No, he was the only one here that would be capable of dealing with him. It would just be a matter of separating him first from everyone else before he could engage him in battle.

However, pragmatism aside… Hazel felt he had to be the one to fight this blond. Even if someone else had accompanied him on this journey of his, be it Tyrian or somehow even Watts, Hazel felt it far more fitting for him to be the one to combat this teen.

After all, the more he thought of him, the more the man felt he was looking into a mirror of sorts… and he wasn't liking the reflection he was seeing. He wouldn't quite say he was feeling anger towards the blond, apparently named Jaune… but it certainly wasn't a good feeling.

It was a feeling he wished to be rid of. And if that meant being rid of the blond, then so be it.

* * *

Pyrrha wasn't sure exactly how much time passed since the start of their little project, but it was clearly quite a few hours – it was hard to tell due to the perpetually cloudy sky above, but just judging by the dark clouds slowly lightening up in color, it must have been around noon now.

And wow what a mission this had been so far, she couldn't help but think. She'd never been truly sure on what to expect during a 'typical' mission given to huntsmen and huntresses, but a recon mission that required them to deal with Grimm exhibiting unusual behavior followed by working with the people they were supposed to protect certainly wasn't something she'd have thought of.

But that wasn't a bad thing at all. In fact, being able to work together with others in this capacity was a real eye-opener in many ways. It humbled her greatly. And even with how serious the task at hand was, this didn't stop the people helping out from bantering with one another, something that they made sure to include her and her friends in quite naturally.

Before she even knew it, the redhead had a big dumb smile on her face as she heard out the jokes of a few of the women that were setting up a trip wire nearby. The jokes were surprisingly raunchy, which left her with a blush from embarrassment, but she took genuine joy from them at the same time because they were just that funny.

Not too far away was Ren making some small talk with a few other townspeople as they helped finely cut up some small metal items into sharp pieces of shrapnel to be placed within bombs. Though the R of JNPR was hardly one to laugh often, he had an obvious look of contentment on his face, showing that he too was somehow relaxing even as he worked.

There were some girls going around too, offering some refreshments to everyone working… and just a few of them were shyly eyeing Ren, much to the overly dramatic annoyance of Nora, who was carrying the lumber Jaune was cutting up to their designated spots.

Pyrrha probably would've laughed at such a sight if it wasn't for the fact that a number of girls were also looking her partner's way too.

And that's to say nothing too of Erin, who was also assisting in the more strenuous manual labor. The tall and muscular farm girl was panting quite heavily and it was obvious that it wasn't due to the physical exertion, Pyrrha noted with a sense of jealousy. Really now, just how more obvious can the girl get? Even _Jaune_ himself noticed it!

Sheesh, did that mean she too would have to be that obvious with her own feelings just to – no, no, no! Bad Pyrrha! She would never dare to mimic Erin of all people! If she ever went around huffing and puffing like that around Jaune, the second he even looked at her, she'd just die from shame!

"Right, back on task, back on task," she mumbled to herself out of the blue, once again taking solace from the conversations taking place all around her.

Thanks to the supplies provided by the town as well as their assistance, the trap building was going exceedingly well in Pyrrha's opinion.

Initially, the goal had been to just set some trip wire traps or even small pitfalls, the former to alert them all of where the Grimm were coming from and the latter to try impeding their way. But as luck would have it, the town had plenty of leftover supplies from scrapped home projects and the like to build a few traps that were a bit bigger and bolder than most.

Ren, for example, was helping in building some shrapnel bombs that were to be placed as close to the forest as was possible, that way should the traps be triggered but somehow miss the Grimm, it'll only hit the trees and ground nearby and not reach the town.

On Nora's part, she was setting up extra wooden fences with sharpened points that could quickly be kicked down so that they pointed at an angle and serve as particularly dangerous barriers of sorts. However, while they were certainly not lacking when it came to lumber, there was only so much ground that Nora and those helping her can cover. At the rate they were currently going, they may be able to cover some odd number of meters, but that's about it – there would be gaps in between.

And as for Jaune, her partner had just finished cutting up the remaining lumber that had been gathered for them and was now transporting the cut up lumber to the other side of town (Pyrrha tried not to focus on the fact Erin was tagging along with him) where they'd set up a similar fence on the eastern side of town as an extra precaution.

Yes, all in all, things were progressing very smoothly. It was honestly hard to believe that the quaint town of Sol was now being turned into a pseudo-fortress of sorts, though it went without saying that it had a very long way to go before anyone would even think of considering the town a fortress of any kind… that said, Pyrrha imagined that if they got any visitors soon, they'd surely find the new wooden fences rather intimidating.

And so the work continued.

Another hour or two passed before they finally stopped, having finished using up all the supplies gathered. She along with her friends and the townspeople had gathered around to look upon their finished handiwork.

While they wouldn't exactly be winning craftsman awards, the wooden fences looked pretty good. And the traps had all been set up too, so they were also good to go on that front.

Behind her and her friends, the townspeople were loudly whooping and cheering. In their minds, it must seem as if the Grimm threat was now nothing more than a bad joke.

But to Pyrrha herself, even with all these precautions taken, she wasn't so sure. If anything, looking upon the fruits of their labor made her worry.

She supposed it was some kind of reverse psychology thing, just without any words being spoken. Rather than be put at ease by what should be an excellent defense, said new defense only made her ponder over just how dangerous the threat must be to warrant all this in the first place.

Given that the Grimm encountered here were clearly much smarter than most Grimm, she supposed it made sense, but still. Her heart was suddenly feeling heavy with worry.

And one glance to her friends was all it took to see that they were feeling similarly.

"Think this will actually be enough?" Nora asked in a quiet voice so that none of the townspeople nearby would hear – not that they could with how loudly they were talking.

"We can only hope so," Ren replied.

"Well," Pyrrha began, now trying to look on the upside. "While the Grimm yesterday had certainly tried to use some tactics against us, we'd all slain them without much more trouble than usual, so with these traps and walls to slow them down, it shouldn't be too hard to finish off the remainder when they come."

"I sure hope so, Pyr. I really do," Nora mumbled. "But even if we do pull it off, the town can't keep this up forever."

At that, Pyrrha winced as Nora made a surprisingly good point.

Certainly, in the short term, these traps and new fence will help combat Grimm, especially if the townspeople make a serious effort to upkeep it all, but seeing as they're entirely reliant on farming and imports for their own survival out here, to say nothing of them eventually expanding the town, they're going to eventually have to take the fences down when it becomes necessary to expand either their crop fields or the town itself. And that's not even getting into the possibility of them potentially forgetting where the traps are located at and accidentally triggering them.

…Well, the town has pulled through this far without much trouble. They were used to surviving, it's just that these suddenly smart Grimm were an obvious curve ball that life decided to throw at them. With any luck, however, once these particular Grimm were taken care of, the town could go back to its usual routine.

"What do you think, Jaune?" Pyrrha now asked of her partner who was standing just a bit ahead of them all. He hadn't said a single thing since they'd finished their work.

"…" He made a sound that the redhead couldn't identify, but it was enough to worry her a bit.

"Jaune?" She gently spoke his name as she went up and patted him on his right shoulder. "Is everything all right?"

He slowly blinked and finally looked her way, but only for a brief second. "…An attack is going to come later today," he said as he looked out towards the forest.

He spoke those words with a level of certainty that left her fully on edge now. "…You sure?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm sure," he responded. "Call it intuition or something else, but something is going to go down later. Be ready."

Pyrrha shared a look with Nora and Ren, the two looking just as concerned as she felt. But they all looked back to Jaune with resolve in their eyes.

"Don't worry, we will be. You can always count on us," she spoke on their behalf.

Her words must have put him a bit at ease, for his shoulders slumped just a bit. "I know… thank you," he spoke gratefully. He then turned around and started walking. "Come on, let's have an early dinner." He was trying to smile now but was failing a little. "I bet you're all a little famished by now."

Not really, Pyrrha thought and had wanted to say, but decided not to say so. Neither did Ren or even Nora say otherwise. Jaune was still looking bothered by something, but until he himself seemed relaxed enough to share, there would be no point in pressing the issue. Even after that night of the dance, where the two of them had talk about their pasts for hours on end, Pyrrha knew that she wouldn't be getting anything out of him in his current state.

So, as she and the others dutifully followed their blond leader, the redhead silently prayed that everything would turn out completely fine…

Because if whatever was now going on was bothering Jaune this much, then Pyrrha really didn't want to imagine any alternatives.

* * *

Jaune had been in a very good mood during the construction of the traps and the fences. But as was rather common in his life, his good mood was prone to withering away and dying at the drop of a hat.

Like he'd just told his friends, call it intuition or instinct or whatever, but he'd just had a feeling of being watched…

And whoever exactly was watching them was definitely not someone to be messed with normally. The blond would never day claim to be able to sense an enemy's power level or anything like in one of his favorite childhood shows, but he did have a strong enough affinity for just knowing how dangerous someone might be.

And whoever their watcher was… well, if Jaune was being honest with himself, he's never felt this way about anyone else he's ever encountered before.

But more than even that… it'd somehow felt as if he were looking into a mirror of sorts, a dark reflection that just made the ghastliest of chills tear through his body.

It took an effort to keep from drawing both blades and marching off into the forest in search for this person. It really did.

As he and his team now ate alongside a number of happy townspeople, he had to do his very best indeed to keep his now worried mood from becoming too obvious lest he cause the others unneeded stress.

He wasn't sure of what exactly was coming their way, but he was at least certain of one thing:

This mission was clearly shaping up to be quite the memorable one.

* * *

…

…

…

Hazel had been resting almost peacefully for the past few hours, ever since the townspeople and that trainee team had finished their preparations for the next attack.

He'd made a few more preparations since, having gone out to add a few more wandering Beowulves to his little army before resting. A bit of a pity that none of the more exotic Grimm occupied these parts of Remnant, but again, it wouldn't make much difference.

In any case… the time has now come.

By now, the townspeople must surely be feeling so much more at ease than they have before during the past several weeks. That would make the storming of their town that much easier to do. He could only imagine too just how shocked they'll be once they see just how pointless their preparations really were.

As for the trainees, well, they would certainly still be on guard against an attack, but much like the townspeople, they've no idea of his existence and therefore were completely unaware that he could render their new defenses completely obsolete with just a few commands to the Grimm.

"Take up your formations," he growled out as he stood to his full height, his large muscles rippling from the anticipation of the coming battle.

The Grimm promptly split up, going from their orderly formation to forming much smaller squads, now spread out throughout the immediate vicinity.

Hazel waited a moment and surveyed the end result, ultimately nodding to himself. Good, looks like his commands were being executed much better now. Even with the ability to see through their eyes and guide them via telepathy, they still largely operated under their own wills, meaning that even at this range, there was a chance they'd have just a bit of trouble perfectly executing his orders.

But this time there was no such problems. To think his ability to command them would improve in so short a time like this… just how did he even gain such an ability, he wondered?

Ah, but again that was something that could wait until much later to be answered. Testing the limits came first. Then, Ozpin's death would eventually come. And only when he's crushed that man over and over again will he finally deem it fit to begin seeking out the answer to this question.

"Now… go!" he yelled and the Grimm immediately dispersed with nary a growl made.

He watched them go quietly before eventually following suit.

He'd already given them their orders concerning the traps and the town itself, having drilled the information directly into their animalistic minds relentlessly until he was certain they'd obey even if his connection with them was somehow severed.

He jogged at a brisk pace, but even then he lagged a fair bit behind even the slowest of the Grimm he'd gathered. Had he wanted to, however, he could easily speed up and pass all of the Grimm and make it to the town well before they did, but instead hung back for now to merely observe until his chance came.

Said chance, of course, being to separate the blond teen from the others. Once he did so, he would then allow the Grimm to go truly wild while he in turn would have all the time in the world to see for himself just what the blond 'hero' was really made out of.

Would the blond try to live up to his foolish ideals and die trying? Or will he perhaps surprise him?

For the first time in a very long time, Hazel was almost eager to find out.

He continued to jog forth in absolute silence, with only his deceptively light steps being the only source of sound to distract him.

But within just twenty minutes at most, he saw through the eyes of the Grimm at the forefront of the wave the town coming into view.

He grunted and telepathically made his intentions known to his army of Grimm –.

-It was time to begin the attack.

* * *

It was once again around afternoon that the next attack came, albeit earlier than it had yesterday. To Jaune, who'd been standing guard on the town's west side along with Pyrrha, this had been expected.

What _hadn't_ been expected was the Grimm soundlessly approaching from in between the trees. Aside from the rumbling noise that had naturally come from how many there were trampling the ground, not a single Grimm had even deemed it fit to growl, much less even roar, an oddity if he's ever seen one.

But what had really been expected was when the Beowulves at the forefront of the attack leapt right over the spots they'd set traps at.

He'd kept his surprise to himself. Pyrrha didn't.

"W-What?!" she all but shrieked. Jaune would swear he could literally hear his partner's heart skip a few beats from the sheer surprise.

However, shocked or not, this still didn't stop them from having drawn their weapons. Pyrrha switched hers to its gun form and immediately opened fire.

By the time she'd even fired twice, Jaune had already charged forth with both swords drawn.

"Everyone, get back!" he yelled. The townspeople had gone back to their daily routines following the completion of the traps and while they'd already started coming in for the day out of anticipation of another attack, they hadn't started early enough.

As such, there were a fair few stragglers out there and much like he and Pyrrha, they'd been more than shocked by what had just happened.

Jaune headed for them first because the Grimm were heading for them too. Unlike the Grimm, however, he was faster.

He reached the farmers well before a few Beowulves could and readied himself to attack – only for the wolf-based Grimm to look upon him… and start spreading out.

Now the blond was truly taken aback and as he covered the farmers' retreat, he could only turn and look as all the Grimm that initially been heading this way now started to spread out, giving him an eerily wide berth.

"What is this?" he muttered.

Alas, he didn't have time to ponder this. In any case, he'll take it as a blessing in disguise since it meant helping any townspeople still out and about retreat to their homes would be easier.

Unfortunately, this didn't mean that this attack was going to be easy to repel – already, he could hear the sounds of gunfire from the other end of town, where Nora and Ren were stationed at. That he could hear the roar of gunfire and explosions from over here could only mean that the Grimm had somehow found a way to circle around the area… and if the screams he could hear were anything to go by, it clearly had been unexpected.

And as for this side of town…

Just as the farmers he rescued went inside their home and immediately barricaded it from inside, Jaune turned in Pyrrha's direction to see the redhead still firing at the Grimm from a distance. She didn't dare move much from where she was at, presumably because if she did so, she'd risk Grimm slipping past her and directly into town.

In which case, it was up to him to naturally provide assistance.

He gladly proceeded to do just that.

He blitzed across the field with tremendous speed. And all the while, he could see the Grimm still very much going around all the traps they'd set.

Time to change that.

Heading for the nearest trip wire, he promptly triggered it and retreated, well before the Grimm nearby could immediately respond to his sudden presence.

Pitfalls were triggered and some Grimm – Ursas – that weren't fast enough to respond ended up falling right into them, with other Grimm simply jumping right over them and continuing their mad dash towards town.

Only for Jaune to get up in their faces each and every time. They may be avoiding him for some reason, but that didn't mean he was going to avoid them.

A particularly large Ursa was rampaging directly towards the town via the main path, in doing so triggering a few bombs that the townspeople had helped build. However, thanks to its ridiculously thick body, the resulting explosion of shrapnel did little more than irritate it.

Jaune, however, raised his left sword and swung down hard, slicing the Ursa clean in two during that split second of distraction. He didn't even wait long enough for it to start dissipating before moving back and heading to a small group of Beowulves that had been coming from a direction just a bit towards his right.

"Three of them…" he murmured as he went for them. They heard him coming and started to change direction, but before they could fully do so, he was already upon them. He lightly leapt and spun with both swords drawn, cutting the three Beowulves into multiple pieces in less than a millisecond.

Now the Grimm started to howl like they usually do and with it came the oppressiveness that normally accompanied a Grimm attack of any size.

The sounds of gunfires and explosions from the other side of town somehow grew louder in response to the Grimm now roaring and it was setting the normally usually unflappable blond on edge.

He turned around and looked to Pyrrha, still admirably holding her position while Grimm continued to approach.

Jaune began to dash towards her so that he could help free up her combat options, but as he did so, he once again looked over the situation… and continued to discover some oddities.

Most of the Grimm… they were moving in groups of three. They were continuing to avoid the traps when possible and were also actively trying to avoid Pyrrha's shots, albeit without much success and at the cost of them having to retreat a little lest they die. It was because of this latter fact that his partner's position had yet to be overwhelmed.

His grip on his swords tightened. The desire to channel his aura and unleashed his empowered swings would certainly be a huge boon in slaying most of the Grimm on this side of town, but it came with risks. For one thing, he definitely can't fire from this angle or else he'll hit the town. Even if he fired away from the town, he'd be cutting down both Grimm and a lot of the surrounding forestry, which was a natural defense for Sol itself. With no idea as to how many Grimm were coming their way, cutting down who knows how many trees unintentionally would only end up opening up numerous more paths for them to take directly here.

Once again, going all out wasn't quite an option here. No matter, he will do what he can.

In this case, he reached Pyrrha just as she had no choice but to switch her weapon into its sword form for a brief second to counter a charging Beowulf that had made it towards her.

Just after it was cut down, Pyrrha finally deemed it fit to actually move now that she spotted him close by. The two partners looked at each other and nodded.

Then they promptly got to work.

Just as he kept on running directly ahead, towards the town, Jaune began to target all the Grimm that had started getting especially close to the town, primarily Boewulves that had been circling around the area Pyrrha had been firing at. As for his partner, she leapt into the fray and headed right for the ones that had, upon spotting him, tried going around him. As smart as they'd suddenly become, it was clear that they hadn't quite expected to almost bump directly into Pyrrha as they did so.

Trusting his partner to handle things where she was at, Jaune focused on everything else within his immediate vicinity.

Even now, when he was practically upon them, the Grimm still tried to flee rather than fight him. This wouldn't deter him.

With just a few steps in any one direction, Jaune would twist and spun, ensuring that every time he swung his blades that he'd strike with great force. Each and every hit would slay a Beowulf

Unfortunately, as fast and strong as he is, he can't be everywhere at once – even with all the noise now around him, he could vaguely hear the breaking of trees accompanied by the roars of Ursas. Roars that were all too close to the town and not even seconds afterwards, he could hear people screaming as concrete and wood were smashed apart.

His heart was practically leaping into his chest – somehow, the Ursas had taken advantage of their prodigious size to simply smash open their own paths through the thick forestry that protected Sol from both the north and south!

"No!" he whispered fiercely.

"Jaune!" cried out Nora, the girl suddenly calling his scroll. She must be fighting while calling, for the familiar sound of hammer swings and grenade explosions were still ongoing as she suddenly spoke. "Watch out – some got past us!"

"I see them!" he replied and sure enough, there down the town's main path, he could see some Beowulves running at top speed, slashing at everything in sight. They weren't even aiming at anyone – they really were just lashing out in pure rage and dark glee at whatever they saw, be it windows or the buildings themselves.

Some pounced onto the sides of buildings or even on top of the shorter ones and unlike the ones on the ground, these Grimm knew to smash open the windows.

And when the windows were smashed open and the Grimm began to crawl in… screams could heard.

"…urgh!" Jaune let out a quiet grunt as he concentrated the smallest amount of aura he could possibly manipulate into his right sword and immediately swung at an angle.

His aura swing managed to cut through two Beowulves that had been about to head in through a smashed open window along with a part of the top of the building next to the one they were on. He winced internally at the property damage, but that's infinitely more preferable to people dying.

Unfortunately, the other Grimm that were trying to break in were targets he simply didn't have a good firing angle on, so he had to get close.

Leaping onto the wall of the nearest building, his feet ended up slamming partially through the thick stone and he promptly began to run up the wall at an angle before jumping off and ramming a shoulder into another Beowulf.

The two of them fell from the second floor of a building and right into the side of the other, the impact resulting in the Beowulf letting out a pain howl before Jaune got up and stomped on its back hard enough to literally make a hole in it.

As it died and dissipated, Jaune threw his left at another Beowulf and it ended up getting impaled through the side of its head. And from the instant he threw his sword to the Beowulf dying, he'd ran up on the other two Grimm by its side and cut them diagonally in half with his other blade. All three Grimm had died at the same time.

The thrown sword had ended up impaling the side of a building and ended up getting the attention of whoever was in there – and much to Jaune's surprise, it was Dean.

"J-Jaune!" the Faunus said in surprise as his head popped out of a nearby window. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," Jaune responded quickly as he pulled the sword out. "Just keep as far back from the windows as you can! Barricade whatever you can then stay down!"

Dean nodded quickly and slammed the window shut and drew the blinds closed – and just in the nick of time as an Ursa came charging down a nearby alleyway, smashing its way through a section of a building as it did so.

It'd come from the south, confirming Jaune's suspicions from just a moment ago. And it wouldn't be the only one coming from this new route.

Realizing that soon enough a veritable bunch of Ursas would be coming into town, Jaune immediately took action.

While Beowulves had more than enough strength to collapse buildings, such a thing took time since their claws weren't exactly suited from optimum demolition. However, Ursas could smash through the foundations of larger buildings with ease thanks to their massive bodies and thick hides, which would ensure they will survive should the building collapse while they were still inside.

In a town like Sol, Ursas were the most dangerous type of Grimm that lived out in these parts. Therefore, he'd have to thin their numbers as much as possible before he can start clearing out the rest of the Beowulves, who were clearly functioning as infantry and hit squads, if their targeting of windows and now doors were anything to go by.

Ursas to bring down buildings and Beowulves to sow chaos and eventually target the townspeople themselves… this was way too organized for Grimm to pull off on their own, even if the more intelligent ones were at the helm of it all.

Something was seriously going on, Jaune thought even as he quickly approached the unsuspecting Ursa and stabbed it through the top of its head.

Its death was quick, but not quick enough sadly; a few more Ursas were approaching from behind it and much like the Beowulves, they took note of him and sought to go around him. In this case, by smashing through the sides of the buildings they were closest to.

Jaune cut through the still dissipating body of the first Ursa and after running a few yards forward, he stabbed out to either side and his blades ended up cutting right into the Ursas before they could get too far away.

He did so in just the nick of time – had they gotten even a little further along, they'd have struck the wooden beams holding these two buildings up. But just the fact they'd made quite the large holes with their abrupt actions now meant the other Grimm had ways into these buildings.

"I have to be quicker," Jaune mumbled to himself. "Have to do more…"

Do more, do more, do more… he had to, or else the people will end up paying for his mistakes.

He had to-!

He had to duck.

His instincts, honed over the years, suddenly interrupted his increasingly desperate thoughts and told him to move, to duck and he immediately obeyed…

…Except this time, he proved to not be quick enough.

-No, that wasn't right, some part of his mind thought as a massive hand grabbed him by the head. It's just that whoever this is was just too _fast_.

This was the last thought he had before suddenly being picked up and thrown at Mach speeds through multiple buildings, towards the exact center of town.

He hit the ground hard and fast and whatever pieces of wood had ended up embedded in him thanks to what just happened ended up stabbing him that much more deeply as he struck the concrete.

To say he was now in pain would be an understatement, but even then, he got up quickly and without so much as acknowledging the pain.

Even with all the developing chaos around the town, he now suddenly found himself focusing on the individual now approaching him, the one who'd just thrown him.

Jaune's instincts screamed at him as he sized up the individual, a mountain of a man with a beard, who now walked towards him with a calm and steady gait.

This man… he was dangerous, Jaune concluded, more so than anyone else he's ever met.

"…Who are you?" he asked as the man as he raised his blades.

The man didn't answer the question. Instead, he said, "…Let's see now… just what kind of man you are."

And then, the man attacked.

* * *

 **And as some of you no doubt expected, cliffhanger!**

 **Ha ha, but honestly, yeah this was about as obvious as could be. But man oh man, I really can't wait to write the next chapter, mainly because writing it will be really damn fun and partially because I'm already seriously looking forward to seeing what kind of reviews it'll get, heh. But alas, the next chapter to my novel comes first, so it'll be a while.**

 **Now, just to explain Hazel's plan here and how effective it was, it's like this – with his knowledge of the traps planted, he'd naturally commanded the Grimm to avoid them as much as possible. Secondly, while initially sending out the Beowulves and just a few Ursas to grab JNPR's attention, he had the rest of the Ursas circle around the town at full speed so that they may smash through the thick forestry there, resulting in new paths being opened up directly to the town.**

 **Additionally, all the Grimm attacking JNPR are actually given the directive to prioritize the town if possible, hence why some have gone out of their way – with varying levels of success – to actively dodge attacks and break past JNPR so that they could get within the town's limits, whereupon the Beowulves would target doors and windows with the express purpose of getting inside to kill the townspeople while the Ursas simply get to rampage and flatten Sol.**

 **As for Hazel himself, he followed after the Ursas from the north who he intentionally commanded to progress forth at a slower rate than the ones from the south, who ended up getting Jaune's attention. This is why he was able to get the drop on him and since they're in the center of town while the others are on the town's outskirts trying to pick off Grimm reinforcements, it's just Jaune and Hazel all on their own.**

 **Just wanted to explain this on the off chance it didn't make any sense within the chapter itself, hope you guys don't mind.**

 **Now then, if you don't mind, I'm off to play God of War, ha ha. And boy, playing it sure is giving me a few fic ideas for the future too…**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	24. Chapter 24

And here it is, people – the chapter that I've been waiting to write! Seriously, I don't think I can really put into words how badly I wanted to write this part. Jaune going up against Hazel in this chapter will be a pivotal point for him and I fully intend to deliver.

Additionally… well, you all will eventually see, heh! But really, I don't think I can overstate how much value I'm putting in this chapter and the next few ones.

Anyways, I'm not going to ramble anymore – let's just get to it!

Chapter 24

The man's fist came at Jaune with a speed well beyond the norm. It would've struck anyone else.

But Jaune wasn't just 'anyone,' though he'd humbly say otherwise. With lightning fast reflexes, Jaune raised a sword to deflect the incoming blow – and did so with considerable effort. The very air rippled around them both from the sheer force of the deflected blow and the ground rumbled lightly too.

This man really was strong, Jaune thought. That meant he had to be dealt with and quickly; the others were still trying to fight the Grimm.

In the same instance he deflected the man's punch, he swung his other sword at his exposed side, only for the large man to once again move with incredible speed, raising a knee to guard against his blade. Then the man kicked forward with said leg and it connected with Jaune's chest.

Even though he'd begun to jump back just as the blow was about to connect, it still struck with unbelievable strength, Jaune coughing up blood as he rocketed back a dozen meters.

But he stood his ground, skidding back those twelve meters as he'd planted his feet as best he could. And now he kicked off the ground hard, making a massive dust cloud in the process.

He charged directly at the man who now seemed to wait patiently for him. Jaune's eyes narrowed in mid-charge, not liking this. Even so, he was committed.

As he neared, he began to raise his swords, ready to lash out at the man's head – only to cancel this action just before it began and promptly spun past the man. In other words, a feint.

He slashed at the back of the man's right knee with a good deal of momentum, intending to deliver a critical hit here… only for his blade to not so much as even scratch the man.

Jaune's eyes widened. "Wh-?!"

The man twisted around and delivered a backhand that Jaune barely managed to duck under in time. But the man didn't stop there for he now turned fully and suddenly started to throw a flurry of powerful punches.

Unlike most other people he's gone up against that possess such a tall and bulky stature, who tended to lash out wildly with all their strength, this man immediately proved to be different. His blows, though fast and frighteningly powerful, were incredibly precise.

The side of his head, his jaw, and throat.

His heart, his kidneys, and liver.

The man was aiming for these spots and it was all Jaune could do to avoid being struck. But he couldn't dodge every strike and had to rely on his swords and quick reflexes to defend against the blows.

At first, the sheer speed and rhythm of the attacks was enough to feel overwhelming, but after just a second or two, Jaune's instincts caught onto the man's current attack pattern and in response, he adjusted his own movements.

He began to dodge better, moving more smoothly. And of course, he began his counterattack.

Or rather, his counterattacks; every time he dodged a strike, he'd respond with a small swing of his blades, cutting at the man's arms and torso. Whenever there was just enough breathing room, he'd even duck under the man's arms and get in just close enough to swing at the man's legs.

Jaune did this with ever increasing speed and strength… but also with increasingly gritted teeth.

None of his strikes were doing anything to the man. No cuts, no blood, nothing. Not even the man's clothes seemed affected by his attacks.

And all the while the man just kept on swinging his fists.

"Ngh!" Jaune's grunt was surprisingly loud, at least he thought so as one blow nearly clipped the side of his forehead. In fact, he could feel just the slightest of grazes… along with blood now pouring slightly down the side of his face.

"…Is this all you have? Surely, that can't be the case," the man said in response, for all the world sounding as if he wasn't in the middle of a fight.

He launched a particularly powerful haymaker that Jaune couldn't dodge. Instead, he had to jump directly back to dodge and even then, he still had to raise his arms lest he be struck.

The man's fist connected with his raised arms with a level of force that put all the previous blows to shame. The entirety of the town shook and Jaune went crashing into the ground, hitting it with such force that he ended up skipping like a stone.

To say that his arms hurt would honestly be an understatement, but he ignored it. As long as his arms weren't mangled, he could still use them properly. And even if his arms ever did end up mangled, he'd still push on.

But far more importantly.

Jaune took his eyes off the man for the briefest of seconds to survey the situation.

All around them, Grimm still poured into the town through the pathways they'd made from the north and south sides. Even with all the tremors and shockwaves their brief exchange had created, they still persisted in trying to tear the town apart. The only upside is that said tremors and shockwaves had resulted in all the Grimm being thrown around too, disrupting their actions.

That said, they were already getting back on their feet… and Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were still on the towns' outskirts, fighting off the ones that must no doubt be nearly overwhelming them still.

That meant it was up to him to deal with the Grimm here, but this man…

"Can you really afford to try thinking this through?" the man suddenly said, his deep voice sounding harsh. "Every precious second you spend thinking on what to do is a second these people can ill afford. If you're not quick enough, they'll die."

Jaune focused back on the man and narrowed his eyes. He readied his blades again as he stood up to his full height and prepared to continue the fight.

Somehow, this man and the Grimm were actually working together. Why else would things be the way they are right now?

But was it an actual partnership between him and the Grimm? Or was the man somehow in control of them? If it's the latter then…

Then he needs to die, Jaune thought grimly. Such a thought, as always, sickened him… but just like with Roman and many others before, it's either him or the innocent suffer. And that can't be allowed.

But even then… the amount of strength required to deal with this man before him… it would be nothing short of tremendous. Will the town be able to stay in one piece afterwards-?

"Hmph." The man snorted as he simply glared at Jaune. "Are you so concerned about these people that you'd prevent yourself from fighting at full strength? How very kind of you, boy… but that kindness is a weakness."

The man then struck out suddenly to his left, his hand effortlessly smashing through the wall of a house directly next to him. From inside, people screamed in terror.

The sound of those terrified people was enough to make Jaune spring into action.

The man was right – under such circumstances, now truly was not a time to be holding back so much.

As he thought this, golden aura exploded from within him and with a fury unlike anything that's ever been experienced before. Jaune's entire body creaked as his own aura threatened to overwhelm it, strengthening his muscles and bones to a ridiculous excess; one wrong move and he'll end up exploding his own limbs.

He cared not for these deadly consequences, however. He just had to bring this man down _now._

Jaune dashed towards him at such a speed that a shockwave was generated just from this movement. This resulted in nearby structures rumbling dangerously, with even more people screaming in terror from within.

He did his best to ignore this, he had to… or else he'd falter and that would truly be a mistake.

As long as he can end this quickly…

In an instant, he closed the distance between them and swung his blade, golden aura surrounding it. And unlike several seconds ago, where the man shrugged off his counterattacks, this time he took a few small steps back to avoid his attack.

But it hadn't quite been enough.

Jaune had accounted for this possibility and made sure to leap forward before he'd even swung in the first place. The man had to raise his left arm to guard against the swing – and this time, Jaune's attack left a cut.

It was small and didn't even bleed, but it was there. It was possible to wound him.

Jaune didn't know why his attacks hadn't affected the man earlier – the complete lack of response to said attacks definitely couldn't have been due to aura, so it was very likely the man's semblance. But in any case, his attack got through now.

That meant that a high enough level of strength was able to get through whatever defense he had.

Seeing this wound, small as it is, invigorated Jaune and went on the offensive, spinning around so that he may swing his other blade with all the momentum he could muster. The man skipped back and the missed swing slashed at the open air, generating a vortex so powerful that some of the Grimm nearby got pulled off their feet a bit. Even some parts of the buildings nearby got torn off and drawn to him.

But the man barely even lurched, forcing Jaune to step forward – only to tilt his head when a fist came flying at him. The man's odd encouragement aside, he obviously wasn't going to just let Jaune strike him.

Jaune swung upwards, hoping to possibly sever his hand with the distance being this short, only to have to dodge when the man started to quickly pull said fist back and lash out with his other one. Jaune retaliated by flipping his sword around and slamming the butt of the hilt into the spot between the man's knuckles.

It did nothing beyond getting a slight grunt out of his enigmatic foe. And then he just powered forth, knocking Jaune's arm back hard enough to throw him somewhat off balance. The punch barreled towards Jaune, but he was able to twist on his feet despite his lack of proper balance to narrowly avoid it and he tried to move forward – only for the man to do so instead, the suddenness of his movement causing them both to crash into each other.

Jaune, with his aura strengthening him, did his best to try and shove the man back, only for him to be the one to fail and he nearly went sailing.

The man then let out another grunt, this one of exertion, as he raised a fist high above and then brought it down upon the ground, the mighty fist causing a split a _hundred feet_ in length and six feet in depth to form.

Jaune, who'd already been stumbling, ended up with his right foot going right into said split and it was only through his strength that he was able to essentially stand on just one leg, albeit awkwardly.

However, while he may have avoided falling into the split, he ended up leaving himself wide open.

The man finally ran directly at him like a bull and slammed right into him so hard that some of his bones quivered and fractured due to a combination of the man's strength and Jaune's own aura already straining his body.

The two of them ended up falling into the split and crashed into the bottom of it hard enough to form a small crater.

Because of how confined the space was down here, Jaune was unable to make immediate use of his blades due to their length, but even then he still went on the attack. Just as the man started to get up a bit, Jaune spread his legs apart and wrapped them around the man's thick torso, after which he then pulled himself up and slammed his own face directly into the man's nose.

The man's head rocked back from the force of the blow and partially from the surprise, but he merely returned the attack and in the next instance it was Jaune's head that bobbled back. His own nose ended up breaking too.

But like all the times before, he fought through the pain; compared to the severity of the current situation, his well-being was irrelevant.

Letting go of his swords for the moment, Jaune grabbed the man by the back of his neck and then slugged him right in the throat once, twice, thrice. With every blow he landed, the amount of aura pouring out of him grew in quantity and intensity, strengthening him more and more with every passing second… but to his own detriment now – after the third punch, Jaune felt his own knuckles break and split open from his own power.

As for the man? He barely sported any injuries beyond some light bruising from the blows, but his own aura was already quickly healing the damage. The cut from earlier was already gone.

And now he looked just a tad bit angry.

Jaune tried to unwrap his legs from around him and jump back, but the man grabbed his sides and swung him directly into the side of the split to devastating effect, nearly burying him in the earth.

As he let go of him, Jaune immediately realized he was stuck in the rock and tried to free himself, only to have to give up on this action and block when a massive foot nearly slammed into his gut. The man merely pulled back and delivered another fierce kick, but this time Jaune opened up his hands and caught it. When the man began to pull his foot back, Jaune pushed as hard as he could and ended up throwing the man into the opposite side of the split.

This gave him the precious second needed to essentially flex all of his muscles simultaneously. The sheer force of his muscles being pushed to their limits shattered the earth all around him and many of the rocky fragments ended up pelting the man, keeping him at bay for a brief millisecond.

Jaune immediately grabbed hold of his swords and held them in reverse grips as to better use them in this still confined space. He jumped and thrust the butt of the hilt out and watched as it slammed into the man's chin. His attack turned the man's head and his face went crashing into the earth and fragments from the edges of the split above them fell down.

One of them actually pierced Jaune's attacking arm, and he could only growl as it added to the pain his own aura was already putting him through.

Despite the power of his attack, the man hardly seemed fazed still and was already freeing himself. Jaune kicked at the man's legs in the hopes of keeping him down a moment longer, but the man was able to raise his right leg just high enough for Jaune to miss. The second kick Jaune launched was guarded against by maneuvering his knee into the path of the attack and pushing back.

Then, impossibly, the man pivoted and made to perform a fast backhand, only to twist his arm halfway through the motion so that instead of coming at Jaune from directly in front, it now came from above.

Jaune raised both arms and caught the fist in between his wrists, but before he could do anything, the man's fist opened up and gripped him by the very top of his head.

He was suddenly yanked several feet off the split's bottom and the man delivered an uppercut that practically knocked Jaune's entire stomach up into his chest cavity.

The punch also launched him at an upwards angle, knocking him through a portion of the ground above as well as through the second story of a building.

Jaune collapsed to the floor of the building's now ruined second story, disoriented. But even as he slowly recovered, he could still clearly make out two things: one, the family hugging one another fearfully amidst all the broken wood and stone and two, three Beowulves leaping towards them upon noticing them.

Jaune growled. _"No!"_

His right blade glowing with aura, he quickly took aim and swung, unleashing an aura swing. A wave of golden aura was let loose, passing just an inch above one of the people's head, probably sizzling their hair a bit – and making Jaune feel as if he just got a few gray hairs from sheer stress – and cutting through the leaping Beowulves before they were even within four feet of the people.

The wave of aura then swiftly traveled off into the distance before exploding. Despite having covered a distance of at least a mile before exploding, the power of it still proved enough to once again rock the town.

"Try to get downstairs!" Jaune quickly told the people. "Or better yet, if you happen to have a cellar or can get to another person's place, go there!"

"R-Right!" one of them called out immediately.

Relieved they were okay, Jaune fully got up and leapt to the ground below. As he did so, he noticed the relatively quieter levels of gunfire and roaring from the town's western and eastern sides. Good, looks like his friends were nearly done taking care of whatever Grimm were still out there. And thanks to all the rumbling his fight had been causing just now, it looks like some of the Grimm in town had been taken out in the crossfire.

A wonderful thing, really, but not one he got to fully bask in – just as he touched down on the ground, the man came jumping out of the split and barreled into him again.

Unlike before, though, Jaune had been ready for him. With both hands gripping the man's short sleeved coat and his feet as firmly planted in the ground as they'll ever be, Jaune and his foe went skidding across the whole town, their every step tearing up the gravel and whatever else was in their path as they moved on.

Jaune let out a roar, a first for him and an indication of how much effort he was putting into this. His aura surged, his strength grew and his body wore down even more. He was stronger than he's ever been. To compare how he was just moments ago to now would be like comparing a fresh-faced first year trainee to a battle-hardened fourth year trainee in terms of ability. And even then, his strength just kept on growing.

But.

"Is this still all you can do?" the man asked angrily through gritted teeth. With every word he spoke, he still pressed onwards.

It was just insane – this unknown man still had the strength advantage!

However, it wasn't all for naught; their charge was slowly coming to a stop as Jaune's strength continued to grow and he pushed back.

Finally, just as the two of them were nearly out of the town, Jaune pushed himself away from the man and flipped his right sword around so that he could take advantage of the open space now.

The man raised an arm and swung it, deflecting the slash. As sword met fist, the ground directly next to them cracked apart and this repeated three more times as Jaune attempted to attack him, only for his blades to be deflected every time.

The man's skill was equal to his monstrous strength, it seemed.

Jaune was undeterred, however.

Instead, he concentrated that much more. Keeping up his assault even though it was failing, he began to move in a circle around the man, putting on speed rapidly. Head on clashes weren't working, so he must resort to using his agility and smaller size much more.

But unlike most others he's gone up against that had the size advantage, this man was far faster than he looked. Moreover, just as how Jaune had started to adapt to how he fought, the man was doing the same, deflecting his swords that much more effectively with every passing second as he intercepted the attacks earlier and earlier than usual.

One particular deflection nearly made Jaune stumble back, but he used this to his advantage instead. Channeling as much aura into his left blade, he swung downwards at the man. The man tried to move back, but this proved to be a bad move for Jaune merely unleashed the aura wave much earlier than usual and the wave slammed right into his large foe.

The man grunted as the wave started to push him back, though whether said noise was due to genuine pain or annoyance was unknown to the blond teen. Nonetheless, Jaune dashed forward while the man was dealing with the aura swing – only to then end up gaping in mid-run as the man then stretched out his arms and slammed his hands together right over the aura wave, dispelling it.

"What?!"

"Your attacks are as half-hearted as you!" the man suddenly yelled before taking advantage of Jaune's shock, launching a punch that would've taken off the head of anyone else. In Jaune's case, it gave him a slight skull fracture as it struck the side of his head as well as knocking him back. "I knew from the instant I even saw you… you're someone aspiring to be a hero, aren't you, boy? Seeing that had made me feel something… but now I see that maybe you're nothing more than a fake?"

"Fake…?" Jaune mumbled as he got up from the hit. His eyes narrowed dangerously at that.

He would never dare to proclaim himself a hero. He's never once felt like he was someone who really deserved such an amazing title. There were plenty of people out there that were just as helpful as he was and could help others so much more effectively than his one-tracked mind.

But to call him a fake hero? That in and of itself wasn't a problem to hear. But if by fake, he was referring to his desire to help others, then this man had another thing coming.

And so, for the first time in what felt like forever, Jaune was starting to feel angry.

He charged at the man, his golden aura exploding from within even more than before. Bones within his legs started to break from the strain. He ignored this.

The man took up a proper fighting stance for the first time, preparing for Jaune's next attack. And Jaune obliged, thrusting his right sword forward in what seemed like an obvious attempt to stab the man.

The man effortlessly dodged, tilting his entire upper body a bit to the left – only that was exactly what Jaune had wanted; atop the man's coat were these little flaps, presumably to store small items in. Jaune had aimed for the one atop the man's right shoulder, his blade neatly passing through its opening.

The man lurched a little from the unexpected weight of Jaune and during this split-second action, Jaune pulled himself close and delivered a kick that slammed right into the side of the man's head.

The impact sounded like thunder as the blow finally succeeded in knocking the man clean off his feet. The man crashed into the ground so hard that he bounced up like a stone thrown across a lake.

This left him expose to Jaune's next attack.

Having concentrated aura into both of his swords, Jaune unleashed an X-shaped attack, swinging both blades upwards. The waves of aura released from his swords were let loose and cut into the man, blasting him off more than twenty yards into the sky before exploding with a level of power that put all of Jaune's previous attacks to shame.

Jaune watched as the man then plummeted to the ground below, his body obscured somewhat by the remnants of his aura attack that trailed after him in a way similar to flames.

"Jaune!"

The blond teen turned briefly to his left, the direction where he and the man had come from. He spotted Pyrrha, looking a little worse for wear and quite fatigued.

Her expression was one of horror as she took in his appearance, which he was certain looked horrible. But just as she began to run his way, he yelled.

"No, don't! I'll deal with this!" he yelled. "You and Nora just focus on taking out the rest of the Grimm! Have Ren start evacuating the townspeople to safer locations!"

By this point, his friends had just barely finished off the Grimm that had been keeping them essentially locked in place earlier and had only barely gotten back to the town. And while the Ursas and Beowulves that had been trying to flatten Sol may have had their actions delayed, if not outright interrupted by his clash against this man, the Grimm were already back at it; already, he could just barely make out the leveling of several buildings. He could only pray that the people inside them had noticed what was going on and took off before the buildings came down on them.

He didn't get to say anything more to Pyrrha, however, for something – someone – suddenly slammed right into him.

Jaune was only vaguely aware of Pyrrha yelling out his name in pure shock and horror before fists struck him all over, specifically his vitals. He didn't just let this happen, though, and started kick back. He tried to maneuver his blades as well so that he could at least try to deliver some small cuts towards the man, but just as quickly as he'd responded to the sudden assault so too did the man to his retaliation.

His left sword was smacked right out of his hand before a large foot came stomping down on his now empty left hand, crushing the bones. Then he was grabbed by the leg and pulled with such force that his leg nearly dislocated in the process.

He went tumbling along the ground but was able to turn all of this momentum to a much more beneficial thing, using it to get back up – just in time to defend himself.

The man, looking only marginally worse for wear after the attack he'd taken just a moment ago, had picked up the sword he'd knocked out of Jaune's hand. It looked positively tiny in his hands, but he still held it with a degree of expertise as he swung it at Jaune in a downwards motion.

Jaune scarcely had enough time to grip his remaining sword with both hands just before raising it up to block the incoming strike, which immediately forced him onto one knee.

The man refused to stop there, however, and kept on swinging with even more strength each time. The entire area was shaking and even more violently than ever before. And Jaune, for all his strength and determination, couldn't force himself back up. Such was the man's ferocity.

And more than that, he was talking.

"You're weak!"

The man swung.

"And do you know why?!"

The man swung.

"It's because you're lacking something!"

The man swung.

"You care for others, but not yourself!"

The man swung, this time much more violently than before.

"You place such emphasis on others' happiness and safety before your own that in the end, you're nothing more than a human machine!"

He punctuated nearly every word with another swing. By this point, Jaune's arm muscles were rendered little more than torn and bloody messes thanks to still using more and more aura to excessively strengthen himself.

"Just look at you – you'd rather destroy yourself for the sake of others than to even focus for one second on your own well-being!"

The man, genuinely angry now, swung what felt like a final time. And when he did so, the blade of the sword he wielded without aura shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

The man's left hand shot out like lightning and gripped Jaune by the shoulder, the fingers piercing his clothes and skin as they dug in harshly. Before he knew it, Jaune was lifted right off his feet, the man's words having left him reeling so much that he couldn't retaliate.

"That's why I deem you a fake!" the man roared before stabbing Jaune in between his ribs with what remained of the broken blade. "A true hero wouldn't simply neglect himself for the sake of others…!"

The man sounded now as if he was on the verge of tears, Jaune noted through the pain and shock he was in.

"…Begone! I can no longer bear to even look at you!"

Then the man spun around a few times at great speed before launching Jaune away.

And the whole time he flew, Jaune could only look up at the sky, struck senseless not by the man's attacks, but by his words.

Right before he struck the ground, Jaune came to a realization, and a rather frightening one that too:

The man was right.

* * *

Hazel panted heavily, not from physical fatigue – he was far from tired – but rather from how intensely he'd been acting just now. He was rarely one to yell the way he had, but that boy… yes, looking at him up close and personal had only confirmed what he'd thought when he'd first seen him.

That blond fool really was just like him. Well, like how he'd used to be: a man so focused on saving others that he neglected himself for the sake of everyone else.

And just look at where that had gotten him. It'd gotten him used and abused by others that had thought to hide their true selves from him so that they may use his own kindness to manipulate him into being their attack dog for a time.

And from there, as he'd gotten exposed more and more to the deviancy inherent in humanity, Hazel had been worn down that much more each and every time he'd foolishly allowed himself to go along with it all, having naively thought he was doing some good.

Before he'd known it, he'd become less than a man and much more of a machine, some tool for others to pick up and use as they please before eventually throwing it aside.

That boy… he was exactly the same in that regard. Perhaps more worldly in a sense – Hazel couldn't help but think so, anyways – but that same lack of self-preservation had been there.

And how could anyone possessing such little care for their own well-being ever be called anything other than a complete fool? Others could call such fools heroes all they want, but in the end, the only reason why this was ever the case is because fools like the blond and himself from long ago simply didn't know any better.

…He hadn't expected to get so riled up, but with every passing of resistance, the blond teen had reminded Hazel of his past that much more.

That same absurd determination to do the 'right thing.'

That same ridiculous desire to keep on going until they succeed.

That same self-destructive instinct to ruin their own bodies for the sake of others.

Much earlier, he'd thought of how the blond had been like looking into a mirror… only now did Hazel realize just how spot-on that line of thinking of had been.

"Hmph." He huffed as he finally started to regain his cool.

…

…

He's gotten what he wanted, hasn't he? To look into that mirror and shatter the reflection he'd seen, right? In which case, there was nothing left here for him to focus on.

Once again, he'd known neither pain nor defeat. If nothing else, he was still living up to the 'Invincible' part of the 'Invincible Hero' title he'd once been given so very long ago.

A shot suddenly rang out.

It took Hazel a millisecond longer than it should have to realize that a high caliber bullet had just struck the side of his neck. Obviously, it had no success in bypassing his semblance – it simply hadn't been powerful enough.

He turned his head enough to see who had fired at him.

And sure enough… the girl. The blond teen's partner.

She stood there, weapon raised in its gun form. She glared at him hatefully through the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Y-You…! You-!" She choked out.

She must have seen what he'd done to her foolish friend, Hazel dryly thought.

He turned now to fully face her… but only for a moment. Rather than speak to her or even attempt to attack her, he merely looked down on her in pity before then turning his back to her.

He's come to do what he'd wanted to do. Now it was time to just fully level the town with whatever Grimm he still had left.

There was no need for him to kill this girl himself – she, much like her fool of a partner will go down fighting. Only in this case, it will be in defense of this town against the Grimm.

People died to the Grimm all the time, so this would once again be just another but all too similar tragedy in the eyes of the world, assuming it's ever even reported.

"Don't you dare walk away!" the girl yelled, the familiar sound of a weapon shifting into another form filling Hazel's ears even in spite of all the noise still going on in the center of town – no doubt those other two teens trying to take down the remaining Grimm. A simple mental order for them to shift focus to defense was all it took for the remaining Ursas and Beowulves to begin actively defending themselves against the Beacon teens.

The girl attacked him from behind. He did nothing in response other than to continue walking, even as she slashed him straight down his back.

It had zero effect on him. His aura as well as his body remained completely unharmed. Such was the nature of his semblance. It was only because of the blond teen's ever-increasing strength that he'd even been able to bypass his semblance and aura during the latter part of their fight.

However, the girl was undeterred, if only because of her rage and grief. She kept on attacking, slashing over and over at him from all over, screaming all the while too. When no amount of sword swings could so much as break his stride, she tried to bash that shield of hers into him.

When that didn't work either, she circled around him so that she was now ahead of him as he headed for Sol.

She'd switched her weapon back to its gun form and took aim at his face. At the same time she did this, pieces of scrap metal that had fallen off parts of the damaged buildings nearby suddenly levitated into the air all around him.

Looks like the girl's semblance was polarity, Hazel silently noted. Not that it'd make a difference.

She opened fire as all the metal pieces, varying in size, were launched at him at breakneck speeds. Both bullets and metal alike once again had no effect on him.

However, he will admit to being just a bit annoyed now, an oddity he just now noted in a moment of introspection; it would seem his fight with the blond had left his temper just a bit more flared than he'd thought.

Faster than the girl could hope to react, he reached out with his right hand and grabbed her by the head, the size difference between them resulting in his entire hand easily covering her whole head.

He raised her off the ground and smashed her back-first through the nearest wall, eliciting cries of pain from her as her aura worked overtime to protect her. But he just kept on walking with her in tow, dragging her through the remainder of the wall as well as through a wooden pillar. Once they were through that and now out in the middle of town, he threw the redhead towards a nearby Ursa, who responded to his mental command just now, and promptly slammed right into the girl with immense force.

As the girl cried out and tried to get her bearings, the Ursa all but pounced on her despite its size and Hazel turned away, focusing instead on other things.

Namely, the rest of the town before him. Even as he could hear the girl vigorously struggle behind him, he paid it no more mind and instead observed how progress was going.

The town had taken a lot of damage in such a short amount of time, if primarily due to the intensity of his battle with the blond. To think he hadn't even been forced to use his Dust shards though… oh well, not it mattered.

Still, things were much further along than he'd expected. The split he'd earlier had pretty much cracked Sol in two and the shockwaves had also leveled numerous buildings as is too. In which case all that was really left was to deal with the townspeople.

Focus on the buildings already knocked down, he silently commanded the remaining Grimm. There are sure to be people trapped under all the rubble, just waiting for death.

His Grimm sought to obey – only to be stopped by a loud explosion.

"No you don't!" came a loud and feminine voice – the other girl of the blond teen's team. She swung her hammer down on a Beowulf as she came into view. Through the eyes of the Grimm from earlier, when they'd all been setting traps, she'd looked like a happy-go-lucky kind of girl. Not anymore.

Much like the redhead, she looked angry. Again, not that it'd matter.

But rather than have the Grimm try and fail to deal with her, Hazel opted to take the initiative. He put on a burst of speed that cleared the distance between them in an instant. She just barely saw him coming and tried to swing that hammer of hers, but he attacked with greater speed, bringing down a fist on her that smashed her into the ground.

Just like that, he'd knocked her out.

"Get to it," he then spoke aloud to the nearby Grimm that had looked ready to jump at the girl. They immediately turned around and took off to hunt down the civilians.

And just some odd minutes later, the screams started.

Hazel closed his eyes and listened closely.

* * *

"Come, quickly!" Ren whispered to a terrified family of four as he snuck into their home, one of the few structures to remain standing after all the shockwaves and tremors from just moments ago.

The family obeyed as he led them out of their home and just in time as a Beowulf came crashing through the window.

Killing it would've been easy, but with how quickly things had gone to hell, Ren opted not to. In all likelihood, it would only lead to unwanted attention.

Instead, he quietly beckoned the family to hold hands while he placed a hand atop the father's shoulder. Concentrating hard, Ren activated his semblance.

It was by no means a flashy one nor particularly powerful, but it kept him and others undetected from Grimm, which made a world of difference. Especially now of all times.

Hidden now from the searching Beowulf, Ren led the four away from their house.

However, that was about the only good thing that could be said – due to the location of Sol and the general layout of the surrounding area, there wasn't really anywhere else the civilians could be evacuated to.

The next town was miles away and sending civilians running there while scared and with nothing but the clothes on their backs through miles of forest didn't sit well with him one bit. After all, there was no telling how many Grimm might be lurking just out of sight within the forest.

But even then, just what other options did they have?

"I'm going to take you to the outskirts of town," Ren began quietly. "From there, try making your way to the next town, okay? My friends and I will try taking down the Grimm roaming the town, but first we need everyone out of the way."

The family thankfully understood and so they all moved as quickly as was possible to the western side of town and Ren saw them off. As worried as he was over all this, he had to faith in the people. They were a resilient bunch and as Faunus, they had excellent night vision, so hopefully if it came down to them having to travel through the night, they'd still be able to avoid any roaming Grimm.

But even with this hope, Ren's heart felt extremely heavy – he, Nora, and Pyrrha had been pinned down by Grimm on the town's outskirts for so long that others had somehow managed to make it to town from the northern and southern fronts, which should've been nearly impossible to do.

And now the entire town was quickly falling to ruin, with entire buildings having collapsed and their crop fields trampled on by the Grimm during their mad rush here. Even if they were able to deal with the rest of the Grimm, Sol may very well be done for since the crops were destroyed beyond salvaging.

But more than that…

"Jaune," Ren whispered.

He and Nora had heard his orders from just a few minutes ago, the blond probably having not realized just how loud he'd been yelling… and that wasn't a good thing. If even Jaune, who normally was so in control of himself, could fail to notice how loud he was being, then things must truly be bad.

And when the screaming started a moment later, Ren's fears were confirmed.

He had to hurry.

Following the screams, he headed towards the nearest location, just in time to see a Beowulf tear apart a poor woman in front of her own children. Anger and horror blooming in his heart, Ren drew out Stormflower and opened fire, killing the Beowulf before it could ravage the woman anymore.

Said woman collapsed to the busted floor, gravely injured but still alive… for now. Ren approached her swiftly and did what he could to patch her up with a first aid kit that just about every house seemed to have – yet another sign of the townspeople's self-sufficiency – and after slowing her bleeding, he looked to her kids, still terrified out of their minds.

"Are you okay?" he asked. The kids nodded back, their bodies shaking from fear. "Okay, okay… that's good. Listen, I'm going to get you out of here, alright? You all and your mom. So, I'm going to need you to be brave for a little while. Can you do that? If not for me then for your mom?"

"Y-Yes," the oldest of the kids, just barely seven, stuttered out. The kid, a boy, did his best to stop his tears and he grabbed the hands of his siblings.

Ren hefted up the barely conscious woman with both arms. He could've easily done so with just one, but he didn't want to take any risks with the state she was in. But he was still able to have the eldest kid reach up and grip the side of his tailcoat.

Activating his semblance again, he made his way out of the collapsing house. He did his best not to show his growing fatigue to the kids. His semblance may be a very simple one, but it required a great deal of focus to activate and maintain and could really drain his aura quickly depending on how long he kept it up and how many people he was extending it to.

These people were far from the first he's helped so far, having actually begun this rescue op from the moment he even made it back to town, well before Jaune had given the order to do so. As a result, he was already tiring and the damage he took to both his aura and body during the previous skirmish with the Grimm pouring out of the forest wasn't helping matters.

He left the house with kids and mother in tow, just as two Ursas showed up, having no doubt heard the gunfire just a moment ago. Once again, his semblance proved its effectiveness.

But not against the man standing nearby.

He stood there calmly as he looked directly at Ren and the kids, the last remaining Beowulves remaining by his side in a manner similar to how dogs sometimes sit by the sides of their owners.

Such an odd sight nearly made Ren freeze for a split second.

"I see…" the man murmured in a deep voice. "I'd been wondering why there wasn't as much screaming as there should have been… you've been evacuating the people."

The man then pointed directly at him and the kids and the Beowulves responded, howling as they started to run their way.

His semblance was still in effect, but it would seem the Grimm, acting on the orders of this man somehow, were able to have a feel for his general location.

With the kids and wounded mother in tow, he couldn't just go running off. So, he had to make a stand. Pulling out just one of his guns, he opened fire on the Beowulves.

Rather than just fall mindlessly to his bullets, the Beowulves split up, showcasing once again a level of intellect that had made fighting them earlier so very difficult.

However, they were still rather stupid.

By now, he had a feel for how they fought, so predicting the way they'd move was easy enough for Ren to take advantage of and so in rapid succession, he fired short bursts that felled the Beowulves immediately.

But all that did was just get the Ursas' attention now. And there's no way his bullets would be getting through their thick hides.

Moreover, the unknown man was now slowly walking towards him.

"Run!" he yelled at the kids, motioning as best as he could in what direction they should go in. "I'll follow soon!"

The kids obeyed and took off. Ren, knowing it was futile, could only open fire on the Ursas anyways. If nothing else, he could try shooting out their eyes.

He was able to do so with the one coming at him from his left, but the one on the right seemed to know what was going on and turned its head as it charged so that at best, Ren would only be able to take out one eye.

Gritting his teeth, Ren picked up the woman properly again and leapt back as far as he could as the Ursas quickly approached.

But as soon as he landed, the man suddenly slammed a fist into the ground, making it split open and throwing him off balance. The woman nearly fell out of his arms with a light scream.

The Ursa whose eyes got shot out tried to make its way to him but ended up wandering into the rather wide split the man had so casually made. Under way different circumstances, this would've been funny even to Ren.

The other one, however, didn't have that issue and roared as it charged at top speed towards Ren as he struggled to get up without dropping the woman. He was just barely able to do so in time to sidestep the charging Ursa, firing at the back of its left leg as it missed.

But of course, his bullets did nothing, making him nearly swear.

Damn it all, where's Nora or Pyrrha?! Where's Jaune?!

Ren thought these two questions to himself with a great deal of worry. the lack of knowledge on where his friends wear making him unnerved in all sorts of ways.

"Just throw in the towel, boy," the man suddenly said. "There's no use struggling any further."

"…No," Ren said. "None of my friends would ever give up, especially not my leader. I'd be a horrible teammate if I don't at least try to live up to his example."

Something about his words seemed to anger the man for his gaze narrowed dangerously and his thick muscles tensed up.

"Fine then. Join him on the other side," the man said, now looking ready to deal with him personally.

But just before he could take even a few steps forward, what looked like a broken sword – a sword that looked all too familiar to Ren – came out of nowhere at incredible speeds. The sword, thought with its blade shattered, still just had enough steel still attached to it to serve as a weapon and the sheer force of the throw caused it to easily pierce through the Ursa's skull like it was nothing.

And before the Ursa's body even fully dissipated, something came crashing down from the sky and landed just several yards right in front of Ren.

No, not something… someone.

Familiar blond hair and clothes was all Ren could focus on, his growing fears now alleviated.

"I'll take it from here, Ren. Just keep getting the others to safety," spoke Jaune and with an intensity that was so great even the woman in Ren's arms, as vaguely conscious as she was, couldn't help but quiver.

Ren didn't bother answering with words. Instead, he merely obeyed.

He didn't get to fully turn around and run before Jaune went on the attack.

* * *

To say Jaune was beaten and bloodied would be a complete understatement – there was not a single bone or muscle of his that wasn't horribly fractured or torn. He was bleeding all over, his organs felt like they were being cooked by his own aura which still poured out from within him and his vision was blurring as the veins in his eyes burst.

But even so, he could still see the expression of genuine surprise on the man's face and it filled him with an odd sense of satisfaction as he went on the attack.

With only one blade in hand, he swung it as hard as he could at the man's neck, only for him to get over his surprise enough to raise an arm.

But Jaune's strength was ever-growing and he cut three inches deep into the man's thick forearm, getting a genuine grimace out of him now. Rather than try pushing on through, Jaune pulled the blade back and swung at the man's side.

The man swatted downwards with his now injured arm to deflect the swing, doing so with clearly more force than ever before… but Jaune could tell it still wasn't the full extent of the man's strength.

Same thing went for his speed as well, it seemed; after deflecting his swing, the man lashed out with his injured arm – an arm that was already healing – and struck Jaune right in the face with a powerful jab that was then followed by several more jabs.

These jabs were too quick for Jaune still and so all he could do was just take the hits before soldiering on. He attacked with a kick to the side of the man's knee and this time succeeded in making him stagger, following this up with a bash to the face via the pommel of his remaining blade. He then threw a powerful right hook that caught the side of the man's nose.

But he then had to back up – the man was already attacking again, shrugging off the hit to the nose and making to grab Jaune's arm. After failing at this, the man simply opted to kick Jaune and the hit connected, launching Jaune through another building and smashing through the wall of the inn he and his team had been staying at.

The man barreled right in after him before he even crashed into the ground and slammed a fist right into Jaune's gut. The blond struck the floor so hard, the whole room collapsed on the two of them, not that either one of them cared.

"If nothing else, you've got the stubbornness of a hero," the man growled in quiet and seething rage before moving in on the downed blond, smashing through all the rubble now around them like it was nothing.

Jaune didn't let this happen, swinging his sword at the man's eyes, forcing him back a bit lest his eyes get cut out. This gave Jaune just enough leeway to then kick at the man's right kneecap. He heard crack ever so slightly, but nowhere near enough to indicate he successfully broke it.

But it sure did piss the man off, enough to viciously kick him in the face with this same leg, blowing all the rubble around them out of the way.

It sent Jaune flying, but unlike all the other times before, he stabbed his sword into the ground and held on for dear life, halting his impromptu flight. He got up just in time to raise his left forearm whilst twisting away simultaneously to avoid the incoming punch. Said punch was so powerful and fast that as the man's arm practically grinded against his forearm, it pretty much burned his skin.

Jaune didn't care. Instead, he got in close and threw a punch at the man's liver with his left hand before delivering a quick slash with his blade held in a reverse grip with his other hand.

In response, the man suddenly brought his open palms down on the sides of Jaune's head, as if to try crushing his whole head. In this endeavor, he didn't succeed, but Jaune's eardrums ruptured and all immediately went quiet as a result.

Disorientation set in quickly and thanks to all the damage he's taken so far, Jaune was having an exceptionally harder time than usual shrugging this off. As fast as he could heal, it made no difference if he was taking this much damage this quickly.

Even then, he staggered forth and managed to slash several times at the man's left arm, but he was so groggy now that he was unable to defend against the kick that slammed against his right knee. And unlike the man's, his kneecap broke for sure.

Jaune let out a roar as he nonetheless tried to stand on a now broken kneecap, not that he could hear himself roaring. He proved surprisingly successful, but it was about the only thing he could do for the moment.

And all the while, more and more aura flowed right out of him.

Power surged within him with every passing second, more and more and more and more even with how battered his body currently was.

His whole body felt unbelievably hot now and even through his bloodied vision, he could vaguely see his own aura literally pouring out of all his injuries.

If this kept up, he might very well explode.

…And if that did happen, he found himself feeling surprisingly okay with it.

If he could just take down this man, then all will be well. The Grimm have already been dealt with, so if he could just finally defeat this man, then the people of Sol will finally be safe.

The man's words from earlier replayed in his mind and the anger he'd felt earlier returned, granting him new strength.

Despite his body being in a state that should render it impossible for him to move, he still ended up moving, taking a step forward with his now busted leg and raising his sword with an arm whose muscles and bones have been profusely torn and broken now.

He knew that he was once again exhibiting the same lack of self-preservation others have said he had, the same lack of self-care that this man had angrily accused him of having, but Jaune could hardly find it in himself to care much right now.

He's never once thought himself a hero of any kind, but merely as someone that could and _should_ help others, protect the innocent. It was his driving force.

If that means having to accomplish literally impossible things in order to successfully save others, then so be it.

He took several more steps forward, these movements only worsening his injuries, especially his broken kneecap.

But even then-!

He attacked, not just once more, not just twice more, but many times more. He swung his blade more than a dozen times at the man, hoping to bring him down. He's learned how this man moves, what sort of attacks he seemed to favor. By all rights, he should still be able to hit this man.

But the man had also learned how he fought and moved. And with his body so broken and battered, even with his own aura still strengthening him to levels he's never achieved before, Jaune was still not quite moving as fast as he could've, as fast as he should've. And so, the man dodged each and every part of his assault with minimal movement.

Then he launched a counterattack.

Jaune was scarcely aware of the blows, really; his body was just in too much pain and his vision too blurry to be able to accurately see what the man was doing anymore. But if he focused hard enough, he could feel his kidneys and liver hurt even more than they already did.

And then, one final blow seemed to strike him right in the face…

…And his world truly went dark.

* * *

Hazel watched as the blond, finally unconscious, slowly collapsed to the ground. He stared blankly for just a few moments longer, just to make sure that the blond – Jaune – was down for good.

The teen was still alive, amazingly enough, but when he didn't so much as twitch, Hazel knew for certain that the fight was well and truly over.

He took yet another minute to settle down before finally having it in him to turn and look around.

The Grimm had done a good job in trampling the town underfoot for the most part – the crop fields were ruined and multiple buildings have been cut up and smashed up… and that's to say nothing of the effects his battle just now had had on the surrounding area.

…And it seems like the Grimm had also been able to take out some of the townspeople too.

This may not have been the completely overwhelming massacre he'd initially envisioned… but it would have to do, he supposed.

He looked back to Jaune, so very still yet clearly alive. Hazel debated with himself over whether or not he should just kill the teen here and now, just stomp on his head and reduce it to mulch… yet every time the thought popped into his head, he suddenly felt dissuaded.

He almost sighed. Looks like, as much as Jaune's very existence angered him, something about him also felt nostalgic for lack of a better way to put it. A reminder of how much satisfaction he used to have back when he first started out as a wanderer.

…Well, not like it'd matter what he decided, really; Jaune may be alive right now, but with how many injuries he has and their severity, he'll die in a while no matter what anyone else tries to do. Aura may be able to do a lot of things, but it was not a guaranteed recovery.

There were still plenty of townspeople still alive, he suddenly noted as more people could now be spotted by him making a run for the forests. And it looks like the teen's teammates were also still alive and relatively well and were now making their way back here, no doubt to back him up well after the fact.

Killing them and the townspeople would be child's play for him, as easy as sweating slow moving flies… but Hazel's mood was in quite a funk right now. For reasons he could only vaguely surmise, he was simply no longer in the mood for killing.

Besides, he'd already gotten a better grasp on how the Grimm function under his commands when this close to him. This will be useful for future outings.

As for the team seeing his face, it mattered not – he existed within no database, a result of him being a wanderer that favored areas outside the kingdoms, where technology was scarce. There existed no photos of himself that could be put out there for other huntsmen to be made aware of.

And sure, they could tell that parasite of his existence, but that will accomplish nothing – after all, getting to Ozpin was his goal, and that manipulative bastard knows better than to send any more of his underlings directly after him.

And so, with just one last look upon the blond teen and the destruction their fight had wrought, Hazel turned and took his leave.

* * *

…

…

…Jaune started to wake up, doing so with the same level of speed that he always did. Only this time was different – just the mere act of opening his eyes was enough to make him feel pain, pain great enough to actually get a wince out of him.

The very first thing he noticed was that he was not out in the middle of Sol, but rather in what appeared to be a hospital room, the ceiling and walls a stark white and oh so clean.

Sitting up was quick to do, but equally painful as well. Upon doing so, he now slowly started to move all of his limbs a bit and looked down the front of the hospital gown he was now clearly wearing.

Just like always, his wounds had healed… but not completely just yet; there was still some very obvious bruising and he could literally tell that his insides weren't quite operating at full capacity just yet.

Really now, sometimes his own recovery abilities amazed himself.

But this was all irrelevant – what mattered was what happened during the time he was out.

"J-Jaune!" called out Pyrrha's voice suddenly.

He almost actually twitched a bit from the surprise of hearing her voice and he turned a little to see her sitting in a chair near his bed. She must have fallen asleep in that chair, judging by how disheveled she looked.

"A-Are you al-?!" she began, but he cut her off.

"The townspeople," he started in an almost desperate tone. "You, Nora, and Ren… is everyone okay?"

"I-, wha-, Jaune, you-," she stuttered out, taken aback by him cutting her off like that. But she recovered well enough and looked at him sadly.

"We're okay – Nora, Ren, and myself. We just suffered from exhaustion and some bruising. Right now, they're at the local diner, picking up some food for all of us. As for the townspeople…" Pyrrha trailed off a bit.

"Pyrrha, please, tell me what happened," Jaune asked gently.

"Aside from some minor injuries, most of the townspeople are okay, just rattled. But some were hurt much worse than the others and required surgery. And…" Pyrrha trailed off for a moment to steel herself. "Eleven of them died during the Grimm attack."

Jaune closed, feeling a whole different kind of hurt at that. He clenched his fists so tightly that he threatened to break his bones all over again.

"…Where is this? How long was I out?" he now asked, trying to stay calm.

"This is Zion, the next town over to the west of Sol… and Jaune, you were out for two whole days," Pyrrha said sadly.

Jaune took this in slowly, having an oddly hard time trying to wrap his mind around this information.

Two whole days?! He was out for that long?!

No, but before all that… now that Pyrrha was really up close, she looked more than disheveled – she looked, quite frankly, like hell. There was some bags under her eyes, her hair was done up in a messed up ponytail and she hadn't put on all of her armor like she usually did.

What else had happened?

"Pyrrha, what else happened?" he asked as he looked to her. "Please, if something's bothering you then…"

Pyrrha closed her eyes now for a brief few seconds before opening them. Her eyes looked so very sad.

"Last night, we received a message from Beacon," she began softly.

And when she continued, Jaune's heart felt like it would stop.

"The walls were breached. There'd been a Grimm attack in downtown Vale."

* * *

 **So, what do you think, guys? Was this chapter worth the wait?**

 **I certainly hope so, because I have big plans for where things go from here, heh. Hazel had always struck me as one of the more underutilized characters from canon, not just in terms of usage but also in terms of how he's just written as a character and fighter. Quite frankly, the guy could've and should've been a total powerhouse. I mean, after the impressive showing Tyrian gave us viewers during his fight against RNJR and then Qrow, I'd really been hyped to see what Watts and especially Hazel could do, but then when the battle at Haven rolled around, I was left severely disappointed.**

 **So, aside from fleshing out his character in my own fashion, I've decided to give him feats that makes him live up better to the hype that I personally had for him in the show itself. And before any of you start thinking that I means I nerfed Jaune during this chapter, I didn't, I simply made Hazel that much more OP, and for reasons that I hope you will find understandable.**

 **Now, that aside, as you've probably also noticed, the past several chapters, there's been a considerable lack of focus on characters other than Jaune and those immediately close to him. This was intentional in order to deliver the wham line at the end there. As for what happened, that will be explained in upcoming chapters, of course.**

 **I hope you will look forward to the aftermath and what else will eventually follow.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	25. Chapter 25

Last chapter had a pretty strong response, I've noticed… and some didn't exactly seem too fond of it. Fair enough, is just how things are with anything. That said, I feel like some of the negativity was due to some confusion caused on my part.

Firstly, just to be forthright, the powerscaling in this fic is significantly different from how it is in canon and will make sense in due time. Personally, I feel it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the rather wonky scaling the show has.

Secondly, yes Hazel's semblance has been reworked. He still can't really feel pain for the most part, but this is merely an off-shoot of his reworked semblance more than anything else. Of course, said semblance will be revealed in due time.

Thirdly, regarding the first point, if it feels like what Hazel and Jaune did was greater than what the RWBY cast are capable of in canon, well, you're partly right but also partly wrong – the RWBY cast has plenty of feats well above superhuman throughout the show even if latter volumes don't really put much 'oomph' in them anymore. But said feats are still very much present. Hell, Qrow sliced off part of a building from many meters away during his fight with Tyrian and that was just from the latter blocking his strike. So, the whole town shaking from Hazel's and Jaune's clashing isn't really too far-fetched, especially since they specialize in brute strength for the most part.

Fourthly, if it felt like Jaune was fighting stupidly, he really wasn't. Certainly, he was emotionally compromised in all sorts of ways that hampered him, but it was more than just that. He was trying to capitalize on his smaller build and agility, but Hazel was clearly much faster than his size suggests and could keep up. And when Jaune managed to memorize the man's initial movements and adjusted accordingly, Hazel simply changed up the speed of his attacks as well as their pattern in order to throw him off. So, again, it's not as if Jaune was just trying to power his way through the fight.

So… yeah. Not trying to make excuses or anything here – if you loved the last chapter then great and if you hated it, that's also fine. I'm merely trying to clear up some stuff that in hindsight I clearly should've made more obvious.

Additionally, this chapter, while intended to explain the aftermath of the fight from the very start anyways, will also be including additional exposition as well.

Anyways, time to start. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I'm so damn happy – Light, the company that made the Dies Irae visual novel, had gone under due to their parent company going bankrupt. But just recently, Light officially announced that they're back in business – and with a new VN already in the making! Silverio Ragnarok, sequel to Silverio Trinity! I can't wait to see what epicness will unfold when it's released next year!

Chapter 25

"I'm truly sorry for all this," Jaune said again, for what felt like the hundredth time to the blond.

He was speaking to Dean, who was also one of the survivors from the attack on Sol just the other day. Aside from some bumps and bruises obtained from all the shaking and debris being thrown around, the mayor of the ruined town was just fine physically… but it was clear that he and the other survivors were still hurting emotionally from what had happened. To be expected since, again, it'd happened just the other day.

Still, Dean was taking things rather gracefully, all things considered.

"Please, stop apologizing," the man said gently. "You and your friends did what you could."

"But even so…" Jaune began.

Dean smiled sadly. "It's just how things are. Such is the price of living out here like we do – sure, we're all self-sufficient because of it, but it's not like we can always repel whatever comes our way. And I know you already know this."

Jaune grimaced. He did indeed know this very well – people out on the frontier lived out there for any number of reasons.

Some lived out there because, if they lived far out enough from the kingdoms, lien doesn't hold any real value and so they instead engage in other forms of trade to keep their own little economies going. As such, suddenly going to living inside the kingdoms, where lien is very much needed for everything and the lifestyles and technology there are extremely different from their own, adjusting can be insanely difficult if not outright impossible.

Other lived out on the frontier because they could be considered rebels of sorts, holding values and beliefs that differ greatly from what's considered the norm in the kingdoms. Rather than stay in the kingdoms and risk getting arrested for one thing or another, they simply chose to leave and establish themselves elsewhere, where they could be left to their lonesome for the most part and not be judged too harshly for it.

Then, in the cases of some places like Sol, where they clearly operated on a lien based system and do have some level of technological development and skills that could be transitioned into something manageable within any of the four kingdoms, the reason behind them still living outside the kingdom walls is painfully simple: having been out here for entire generations, it's just something they're used to, something they're content with.

And something's not broken, no need to fix it.

These are the primary reasons why people live out here in the frontier, but there's still plenty of other reasons why villages and towns get established so far out.

But no matter the reason, everyone that lives out here are well aware of the risks involved – bandits, random thugs eager to start trouble wherever, natural disasters that could horribly impact their economies such as sudden droughts or famines… and of course, Grimm.

Places out on the frontier don't have too big a taboo against calling the kingdoms for help, but for the most part, they tend to hold a very realistic viewpoint towards potential outcomes. They know that there's only so many huntsmen and huntresses around and that it takes time to mobilize. Anything could happen within this timeframe. If help comes, then great. If none comes in time or at all, then that's also fine – such is life.

Dean and the people of Sol, while clearly happy for any help at all, grew up with this viewpoint. To them, the loss of their homes, while certainly saddening, is hardly unexpected.

And Jaune, from his travels, knew this too. But that didn't mean he was just okay with how things had turned out.

Dean chuckled a bit now, clearly bemused by the expression he must have on his face. "Ah, seriously, boy. You're too young to be beating yourself up over this."

"…Maybe," Jaune admitted. "But even so, things could've – should've – turned out differently. My emotions were getting too jumbled up. I should've seen a lot of things coming."

"Ah, come on, Jaune. Just how could anyone predict the Grimm acting so damn smart like that? How could anyone have expected them to pull off a stunt like that? To say nothing of that one man too…"

Jaune grimaced again, knowing what Dean was saying was true, but even so, he'd let that man's words get to him and he'd paid a price for it.

"But wow," Dean then said, looking him up and down from where he sat in the hospital's waiting room. After he'd been looked over and patched up upon them all arriving at the hospital in the first place, he's been stopping by regularly to check on the other people from Sol that had been more seriously injured and thus were still here. "Can't believe you're already looking so good. You healed right up real quick!"

Indeed, Jaune was already almost back to normal. It'd taken a whole day to heal most of his external wounds like the cuts and bruises, while his bones and muscles had begun their healing processes. As of now, while he wasn't fully healed just yet, he was able to be up and about, though his bones were still only partially restored and his muscles were rather tender.

"…It's a gift," Jaune said lamely, trying to smile but faltering. "Just what will you do now?"

He was referring to not just Dean himself, but to the rest of the survivors from Sol too. Their homes had been pretty leveled and their crops and work fields torn up during all the fighting.

"Mm. Well, for now, all we can do is just heal up… as well as mourn those that couldn't make it," the Faunus mayor began solemnly. "After that, some of us will head back to Sol, see what's left standing at all and see if it can't be rebuilt. The thing about living out here is that a lot of what we do is really reliant on nature… and nature always recovers from the hits it takes. It just takes some time. Rebuilding shouldn't be out of the question."

"But… what if it is?" Jaune asked.

"Then we may all have to go our own ways, assuming we can't just find another good spot of land to settle down in," Dean replied calmly. He did look a little sad a moment afterwards, but not too much. "If it does come to that first option, well, it's definitely going to be a sad parting – I'll miss my drinking buddies something fierce. I'll miss everyone else too… but our ancestors had to go their own separate ways too back then at some point or another. If they could do it, then we can do it too."

"I… I see. I hope it doesn't have to come to that," Jaune began. "But if it does, I wish you all the best of luck."

Dean smiled. "Thanks. It means a lot. Now… I think it's about time you go and head out with your friends. Can't keep that bullhead thing waiting, right?"

Following the news of the breach that had happened back in Vale, just about every team out in the field was getting recalled, those that could be reached and could afford to do so, that is. Seeing as Sol was kind of no more along with the Grimm that had attacked it, this meant JNPR's mission was technically over. As such, when Jaune's recovery speed was noted by his friends, they'd been the ones to reluctantly call for a bullhead pickup.

It'd just arrived about ten minutes on the outskirts of this town – Zion – and his friends were just in the process of bidding other survivors from Sol as well as the hospital staff here a very reluctant and sad goodbye

That's what Jaune had been doing too, aside from apologizing – saying goodbye.

"I really wish we were leaving under very different circumstances…" Jaune muttered.

"It is what it is. Besides, Vale – your home – was attacked. Would be bad to not go and check in at the very least," Dean commented. "Don't worry, Jaune. You and your friends did what you could. That at least most of us are still alive after what'd happened wouldn't have been possible if not for you four. I know for a fact the others feel the same way. So keep your chin up – you protected us. You'll always have our thanks for it."

When Jaune tried smiling now, he did a much better job than he did a moment ago. "I… thank you, Dean. But if you ever need anything…"

"I know who to ask for," Dean said with a small smirk. "Well, then if you ever see that one man again… make sure you give him a good thrashing for us, alright? Don't know what kind of part he played in the attack and all, but he's just got that punchable face, you know?"

Jaune actually snorted a little. "I'll make sure to do just that."

The two of them then shook hands and Jaune took his leave.

A few minutes later, his friends exited the hospital and they all left for the bullhead. And right after that, they began their silent and solemn flight back to Vale.

* * *

James Ironwood let out a sigh for the umpteenth time that day as he all but collapsed into the chair directly across from Ozpin's desk. And when his friend silently offered him a cup of hot cocoa, James wasted no time accepting it in order to calm his nerves… but not before taking out his flask and adding a little alcohol to the mix.

When he took a good chug of the hot drink, the mixture tasted just as bad as he'd expected it to, but the kick it gave him was most welcome.

"I see you're slowly becoming like Qrow," Glynda commented from nearby. "I suppose I should warn the students to be on the lookout for flying pigs."

The Atlas general grimaced; being compared to that rowdy drunkard was never a good thing.

"Well," Glynda then started. "It's not as if I don't understand how you feel."

"Indeed," Ozpin now said as he took a long drink of his cocoa. "Due to the Breach and the immediate aftermath of it, we haven't had to time fully go over what had happened yesterday. James, I believe you've already debriefed your specialist who was involved, yes?"

"I have," the general said. "You've already done the same with team RWBY, right?" It was this team, a team that Winter's sister Weiss was part of, that had assisted the older Schnee in her mission over the past few days.

Ozpin nodded. "Glynda, if you would."

The blonde nodded and pulled out her scroll to fiddle with for just a few seconds. James' own scroll pinged and he pulled it out, seeing that he'd been sent the transcripts of said debriefing.

"As you can see, according to the statements of each girl, team RWBY first began their mission with the Vale Police Department routinely enough – being explained the basics of what was known about the White Fang's activity within Vale and how they were to assist the police in assisting the Atlas military in researching what was known about the White Fang's most recent movements," Glynda began. "From there, Ms. Schnee admitted rather reluctantly to having used their mission to allow herself to meet with her sister, specialist Schnee, with the express purpose of assisting her. Due to the fact that they're huntresses-in-training, the police chief didn't have too much trouble allowing this to happen and essentially dumped them onto your specialist and her men."

James nodded along as he listened; it lined right up with what Winter had first started with during her own debriefing.

He continued to listen in silence as Glynda continued her explanation.

According to what team RWBY had said, they'd mainly been helping out with paperwork and research whilst Winter had focused on primarily on actually looking for anything that could lead to the White Fang cell's newest location. Unfortunately, things had gone quite cold on the trail by this point so Winter had essentially been going in blind. This had continued for a majority of the day or so until _somehow_ the team of aspiring huntresses came across a tip that pointed to Mount Glenn being where the White Fang was now set up at… in addition to word of Adam Taurus himself being there as well.

From there, Winter had taken team RWBY along with her personal team to Mount Glenn as quickly as they could, for this unknown tip had also mentioned just a bit of whatever was being planned. Given what ended up happening, this tip was right on the money.

That said, upon having reached the ruins that lied atop Mount Glenn's surface, the large team had combed the whole area as thoroughly as possible before finding a cave that led somewhere below the mountain itself.

It had been there that they'd encountered the White Fang.

From there, things had gotten quite chaotic, according to team RWBY as well as accounts from Winter and her men. The White Fang forces there may have been caught completely off guard, but Winter and her own forces had been rather underequipped for the sheer amount of manpower the White Fang had somehow gotten out there. Nonetheless, they'd taken advantage of the White Fang's surprise to swiftly incapacitate a number of the weaker enemies, the grunts.

It hadn't been until Adam Taurus along with a tall chainsaw-wielding lieutenant of his that things had gotten truly dicey, for they'd been able to cut their way through a few of Winter's men before the specialist and her most elite grouped up to take the two on. As that had happened, team RWBY along with the few men Winter could spare had been tasked in stopping the train the White Fang had loaded up with Dust – the very same Dust that Roman Torchwick had been stealing, judging by the fact the now deceased thief had been working with the White Fang recently.

Again, given the results, they'd failed to stop the train, but had managed to detach some of the train carts well before it crashed into Vale, the resulting rubble having served as sufficient barricades in keeping a lot of the Grimm from rushing into the city.

Still, more than a few Grimm had been able to make their way into the heart of the city and more than a few civilian casualties had occurred, much to everyone's sadness and horror, but thanks to the combined forced of Vale's police department, the many, _many_ soldiers that had been brought to Vale in addition to the huntsmen that had been able to mobilize swiftly, the Grimm were quickly dealt with. It'd just been that first several minutes of complete unpreparedness that had taken everyone so horribly off-guard.

"They've quite the informant," James commented dryly as Glynda finished talking.

"Indeed," Ozpin quipped in agreement. "It's very much obvious that team RWBY is keeping more than a few secrets. But we're hardly ones to talk."

James tried not to flinch. "That aside," he began. "What's the status of the teams you've sent out on missions?"

In the aftermath of the conflict, a lot of things had occurred. A number of White Fang members had been taken into custody, including the lieutenant that had been by Adam Taurus' side. However, Taurus himself had managed to escape during all the chaos. Additionally, while a number of Grimm had been kept away from Vale due to the rubble that blocked their path after they fell down into the tunnel, he'd tasked a handful of teams of his own soldiers to head in there and deal with them before they could potentially claw their way through all the debris.

In addition to this, other forces under his command were working with the council's own workers in cordoning off the entire section of Vale where the Breach occurred, fully intending to quickly fill in the hole the train had made.

"Those that can be recalled are already on their way back," Ozpin responded. "The rest that can't due to the nature of their missions are still going to carry them out, obviously."

James grunted. He'd figured as much. Alas, his paranoia was all but demanding every student to be called back to Beacon. If the White Fang had been able to pull off a stunt like this, then there was no telling what else may come next.

Fact of the matter is, if it hadn't been for team RWBY's informant, who most likely had some connection of their own to the White Fang, then things could've ended up a lot worse. And there was no guarantee that such another convenient tip would ever come again.

With the Vytal Festival slowly rearing around the corner, more and more measures must be taken to ensure everyone's safety. It was just too big an event for any radical to ignore.

"With what's happened, what has the council been saying about the Vytal Festival?" Glynda spoke up, asking the question James himself had been thinking of.

Ozpin sighed, looking older than he already was. "They still intend to go through with it. Their reasoning is that it would help everyone take their mind off all the chaos recently."

"Are they mad?!" Glynda all but yelled.

James grimaced. "I can't say I'm too surprised by that; they aren't exactly stupid or ignorant… but politics has always been its own unique beast and they're slaves to it."

"Indeed. In any case, we will once again have to work around things. I've already contact Qrow to inform him of the Breach and to try making contact with his sister."

"Seriously, Oz? Raven? Even assuming Qrow is able to find her and her merry band of criminals now, do you really think she'll want anything to do with any of us?" James asked.

"Or vice versa…" Glynda added.

"I know. But despite our own efforts to be more proactive, there's simply too much going on behind the scenes for us and our own all too small circle to keep up the good fight. We need to start bolstering our own forces and prepare for whatever shall inevitably come next." Ozpin now stood up and proceeded to down the rest of his cocoa before looking out the glass wall of his office. "The White Fang, whether they know it or not, are playing to the Queen's tune… and we've still yet to discern the identities of her real servants."

Out of the corner of his eyes, James saw Glynda shoot Ozpin a dirty look. He was tempted to question it, but managed to hold his tongue. Glynda, as Ozpin's closest subordinate and comrade, was just a bit more privy to the man's secrets than he was, James could admit. The blonde only ever shot the man that look whenever there was something he was doing or thinking of doing that she didn't agree with, which seemed to be more common a thing nowadays. She would also shoot him that look whenever it seemed like he was keeping a particular thing secret.

Alas, there was absolutely nothing that could be done to get Ozpin to spill whatever he really knew. James fancied himself as a paranoid and incredibly stubborn man, willing to do whatever it takes – within reason – to learn all he can to better protect Atlas and the other kingdoms… but Ozpin, in turn, was someone who could take secrets with him to the grave no matter what gets thrown his way.

Thus, as tempted as he was to force the issue, now simply wasn't the time for it. They needed to remain united. It was the only way they'd have any real chance against the Queen. The last thing they could afford was to have any in-fighting.

James didn't like it, but it was just the way of things.

So, he ignored the look Glynda was shooting Ozpin in favor of getting up. "Then I guess I don't have much choice other than to trust Qrow… God, that just gives me the shudders," he quipped upon standing. "…I'll be taking my leave then. There's still plenty of paperwork that needs to get done and since the council has seen fit to keep the Vytal Festival going, I suppose I should start planning out security for it as a precaution. I just hope that, whatever the outcome with Raven, she won't try to undermine us. It wouldn't be the first time, after all…"

Ozpin turned around, looking ready to say something, only to fall silent. When it looked like he wasn't going to speak after all, James merely nodded to both him and Glynda before leaving the office.

Once again, he was feeling a little left out of the loop. It was far from a good feeling. And as much as he trusted Ozpin to one day fill him in, there was no telling whether or not him knowing this unknown information was really that bad a thing.

In any case, while he's stepped down from a potential conflict wth Ozpin just now, that didn't mean he was going to sit idly by and let his longtime friends do all of the heavy lifting from the shadows.

It was high time he did a little digging of his own.

Who knows? Perhaps his own investigation into whatever is going on behind the scenes here will be fruitful for them all.

* * *

Following his meeting between himself, Glynda and James, the day had continued on for Ozpin in a dull manner, a surprise given the 'excitement' that the Breach had caused. It really never ceased to amaze him just how quickly people could adapt after facing such horrors.

Of course, this isn't to say everything was perfectly fine and dandy – there'd been plenty of collateral damage done during the Breach by the Grimm and the people that had slain them, to say nothing of the casualties that had occurred during the Grimms' mercifully brief rampage. Public outcry and concerns were at an all time high, civilians demanding answers and reassurances, things that the council and he himself were doing their best to provide without giving too much away.

The headmaster sighed, feeling so very old. There was just so much that had to be done – addressing pubic concerns, trying to persuade the council to cancel the Vytal Festival or at least push it back to a later date, driving the White Fang out of Vale for good, rooting out Salem's own agents… the list just kept on going.

This wasn't even getting into the subtasks that made up those primary objectives too…

Several hours go by with him keeping busy as headmaster of Beacon, forcing him to push back other self-imposed tasks. It was honestly making him a little antsy, for once again, he could feel it – how different this battle with Salem was turning out to be compared to the past.

In this age of technology and extreme subterfuge, there truly was no telling what could happen.

"Ozpin," Glynda suddenly said as she entered the office. "Team JNPR is back."

Ah. Well now, that was excellent timing given he was just finishing up the last bit of paperwork for the day.

"Send them in. I shall debrief them personally," he stated in as calm a voice as he could manage. Given what he'd already known in advance of the mission he'd sent them on, the fact that it seemed like all of team JNPR made it back was truly a pleasant surprise.

Now just to see if anything they said could prove useful…

Some odd minutes later, the team was ushered into his office. The four of them had certainly seen better days… but they were alive and well and that was more than enough to partially soothe his old heart.

"Headmaster, you wished to debrief us yourself…?" their leader, Jaune, asked with obvious confusion.

Ozpin looked the blond leader up and down quickly, noticing how he looked the worst off out of the bunch, what with how dirty and ragged his clothes were. The headmaster also noticed that one of the teen's two blades was nowhere in sight…

"Indeed," he began coolly. "Seeing as I was the one to assign you four this mission, it's only fit that I debrief you. Now then, please take a seat. Care for anything to drink before we begin?"

After a quick reply to his question followed by procuring some herbal tea for Jaune and his fellow male, Ren, while Nora Valkyrie had some hot chocolate and Pyrrha Nikos indulging in just a large glass of water, Ozpin took a seat behind his desk while the four sat comfortably on the opposite side.

And from there, they all launched into it.

From when they first made it to Sol up until when they'd left the town of Zion, team JNPR told the headmaster all they could remember, down to the very last detail.

Once more, Ozpin found himself rather surprised and impressed. He could count on both hands the number of time any huntsmen team has ever had such an amicable relationship with the populace of wherever they'd been sent to, let alone the setting up of traps with help from said populace.

But of course, it'd been what they ended up saying about the Grimm and an unknown man – Hazel – that really ended up catching his attention.

It took considerable effort to keep from balling his hands too tightly into fists; it was worse than he'd feared.

Based off what he silently listened to just now, it seemed Hazel somehow held some measure of control over Grimm, which was a most terrifying thought. It was bad enough that the man was powerful in his own right, but to now have somehow gained the ability to direct Grimm was severely unexpected.

Just like that, Hazel's already high threat level skyrocketed.

"I… see," Ozpin said after a moment.

From start to finish, he'd listened to what the team had to say in complete silence, partially because he'd felt it best to get the whole picture first before asking specific questions, but also partially because once the four of them started to talk, they just kept on talking. Surely, team JNPR's collective nerves were frayed after having to endure such an ordeal for their first mission.

"...This man," he began as he focused on the matter at hand. "What exactly can you tell me about him?"

They'd provided a quick description of Hazel and his actions – actions that left Ozpin quite horrified. The man was clearly going off the deep end more and more – but that had been about it. It was now time to get their individual impressions of the man.

Alas, it looked like the four of them were left befuddled by his question. They all then looked uncertain, not quite knowing what to say. But of course, this really should've been expected – in the midst of such an unexpected series of events, they probably didn't have much reason to pay Hazel that much attention lest they risk the Grimm slay all the townspeople.

…No, wait – there was one among these four that didn't look unsure. And really, Ozpin chided himself for not seeing this coming.

Jaune, as always, proved to be the exception.

"He was powerful," the blond began in a quiet but firm voice. "Had he really bothered to, he could've killed us all."

The blond leader's simple words left Ozpin momentarily taken aback. But then he regained his composure and motioned for the blond teen to continue.

Out of the four, Jaune had provided the least amount of details, having only really provided a general overview of the events he was personally privy to.

Thus, it was now Jaune's turn to explain in great detail just had happened – how Hazel had intentionally set things up so that they'd meet, their battle, and how things had ultimately ended… the J of team JNPR spoke of it all down to the very last detail, including the truly frightening list of injuries he ended up suffering from by the end of the battle.

By the end of his explanation, Ozpin could only lean back in his seat a bit, truly shocked.

He'd known from the start that Hazel's strength was an abnormality amongst people in general and that the same could really be said for Jaune, but the details provided just now proved to him just how abnormal both men really were.

Shaking the whole town, even the entire area, generating shockwaves with their attacks and more… these feats were not actually uncommon amongst professional huntsmen given that even trainees can casually deflect multiple bullets and easily the handle the recoil of guns that could take down large Nevermores. Why, even the likes of Qrow, who were more focused on agility and delivering precise strikes, could cut off portions of buildings from meters away just from the sheer force of their swings.

But to this extent? The only ones capable of feats to that degree were few and in between. And that this had been accomplished by a seventeen-year-old trainee and a man who clearly had still been holding back? It once again confirmed for Ozpin that Jaune Arc and Hazel Rainart were truly abnormal.

But Hazel more so than the teen, given that, again, he'd apparently done all this without going all out.

It would certainly explain why no one else he's sent Hazel's way had been able to actually take him down, however… not that this information made him feel any better.

"You said that something felt off when you fought him," Ozpin finally managed to utter after taking a minute to digest all this. "Do you think you can describe this?"

Jaune now took a few seconds to mull the question over, even closing his eyes in order to seemingly relive that battle. "…It felt as if he had another form of defense up, in addition to his aura and own natural durability. I can't say for certain what this additional defense is, but it didn't seem to be like an actual barrier though… and if struck hard enough, it's still possible to seemingly get through it. In any case, it felt as if it was the work of his semblance, so that much I can be certain of."

"Interesting…" Ozpin muttered.

Based off what little he knew personally about the man and what else he's managed to dig up on him in general, he'd initially deduced the man's semblance to be the dulling of pain, but it seemed young Jaune here felt differently. Given that he fought the man and survived in addition to having quite the sharp eye, Ozpin felt confident in being able to rely on the blond teen's word.

Still, this intel he was getting here was worrying. Whatever plans he'd been recently cooking up in order to deal with Hazel would have to be done from scratch again.

Now, that being said…

"I'm sorry things turned out this way," Ozpin said softly, meaning every word.

He'd taken a big risk by sending team JNPR out on this assignment. He'd essentially risked their lives as well as that of the townspeople for what ultimately amounted to just a bit of concrete info on Hazel. That they'd survived in addition to keeping most of the townspeople alive throughout the entire mission was nothing short of a miracle.

"We just did what we could, headmaster," Pyrrha suddenly spoke up, smiling as best she could. However, it didn't take a keen eye to note how fragile said smile looked.

"Yeah. I mean, one day we would've had to do something crazy like this anyways, right?" Nora added in, the normally energetic girl speaking quite tiredly.

Her partner, Ren, could only nod in agreement.

"It is what it is," Jaune then said neutrally. "And in any case, those people had needed help. It was only natural to provide it… no matter what the consequences would've been."

"…" Ozpin made a sound that not even he himself could fully identify. But he could say with certainty that team JNPR's resiliency had left a fair impression on him. "…Indeed. Thank you four for your time. Please, go and get some rest. You've more than earned it."

Three out of four teens were fairly quick in doing just that, mumbling out tired replies before getting up out of their seats.

But once again, Jaune proved to be the exception. "You guys can go on ahead," he started quietly. "I'd like to speak with the headmaster a bit more. Assuming that's not an issue, sir."

Ozpin blinked in surprise. "Not at all, Mr. Arc."

The NPR of the team reluctantly took their leave, though not before shooting their leader worried looks.

And so, it was only him and one Jaune Arc all alone in his office. The two of them simply stared at one another in dead silence for a minute or two, as if to wait to make sure no one else was around.

Finally, Ozpin spoke.

"Well then, Mr. Arc… what's on your mind?"

* * *

Jaune was feeling extremely tense when he'd asked to speak with the headmaster in private. Now that the man in question had spoken, the blond was actually reconsidering this.

But just when was the last time he's ever truly backed down from something he's committed himself to?

"I…" he began slowly. He was slumping forward a bit in his seat, shoulders hunched up. His still healing nerves felt like they'd explode from just how nervous he was feeling. Nonetheless, he forced himself to continue. "…Honestly, I was just hoping to speak a bit more of what… what happened."

The headmaster nodded slowly. "Are you referring to the battle against this unknown man?... You did suffer a truly horrifying number of injuries… perhaps-."

"No, it's not that," Jaune interrupted, albeit softly. "…I was certainly hurt much worse than ever before, but that's honestly nothing."

The headmaster quirked an eyebrow and then made a motion with his right hand, wishing for Jaune to explain.

The blond leader closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to settle down. It took a solid minute, but this did have some degree of success. If nothing else, he was able to sit properly now and lower his shoulders.

"It has to do with… well, with what the man said to me," he finally managed to utter. "He was a man of few words, relatively speaking, but even then… what words were said, well…"

"It had an impact on you," the headmaster finished for him. "…Tell me then – what did he say to you?"

Jaune thought back to that battle, reliving every single moment with an intense degree of clarity. Every word spoken, every expression the man had made… he remembered it all down to the slightest detail.

He proceeded to tell the headmaster literally every word the man had spoken to him but did so in a quiet tone as the impact of those words still was weighing down on him. The headmaster listened quietly and patiently to the very end.

It took only a few minutes, if that, for Jaune to finish doing this and it was another minute longer before the headmaster finally spoke.

"Mr. Arc," he began as he leaned forward a bit behind his desk. He placed both hands atop his desk, his cup of cocoa having gone forgotten for the time being. "Let me ask this: just what do you think about what this man had said? How did it make you feel?"

Jaune had seen those two questions coming from the very start, but even then, he was still unable to answer immediately.

It took him a few seconds to compose himself as he thought over it all again. After doing so, only then did he speak. "…At first, it just left me in a state of shock," he started. "But after calling me a fake and stating my kindness to be a weakness… that was when I started to feel genuinely rattled."

He paused for another few seconds, trying to reorganize his thoughts, only to then start speaking again almost unconsciously. "I…" he trailed off to lick his lips really a quick, a nervous tick of his that he'd thought he'd long since lost. "…Ever since I was a young boy, when I'd first awakened my aura and semblance, the only thing I'd ever really focused on doing was helping others. I was obsessed with this, to the point where I started to train myself into the ground before eventually just taking off to help others. At first, I just helped out people however I could within my hometown, but that just didn't feel like I was doing enough so then I branched out into the other towns nearby… but then that soon proved to not be enough.

"At some point, I just started to journey well out of the comforts of my own hometown and the surrounding area, heading right for the frontier – it's the area that I figured where people could really use my help… and I was right. There were plenty of Grimm to be slain, bandits and gangs and other types of criminals that were preying on the people out there, and that's to say nothing of other things that could threaten the people's well-being out there like natural disasters.

"No matter what it was, I helped people, saved them from all the troubles that I could save them from. I didn't always succeed, especially not at first, but I still did the best I could. I did my best to learn whatever skill would be needed to help others, be it something as simple as helping someone repair a busted pipe to something much more essential like more advanced first-aid. I really did my best to help everyone that could be helped, sir.

"…Of course, I learned along the way a lot of important life lessons, the hard way at that too – it seemed like that was just the only way I could learn such lessons. But no matter how heavy the toll was on me, I just kept on trudging on – after all, there were others that still needed help, so I couldn't afford to just let them suffer any longer.

"A-And… every time I helped someone, they'd always thank me for it. At some point, some of these people I aided even went as far as to call me a hero, a title I did my best to live up to. They deserved nothing less than my absolute best. Of course, there were those – the ones that I failed – that didn't accept the outcome so gracefully; they proclaimed me useless and yelled all sorts of grief-stricken words at me… words that I deserved. After all, I'd failed them…

"But even then, I just kept on going, I had to. And this is what I did over and over and over again for years. And even though I may not have always succeeded, I still try to at least content myself with knowing that I'd done what I could… and yet… after what that man had said…"

"…It feels as though he was invalidating all you've done," the headmaster gently interjected. "…Mr. Arc… take a breath. Release your grip too, please."

Jaune stared at the headmaster unblinkingly for several long seconds before realizing that he'd just been rambling. And at some point he'd really started to grip the armrests of his chair tightly; it was a miracle he hadn't crushed them under his grip.

The headmaster waited whilst he tried to relax, after which he spoke. "You say you had to help people," he began. "Like it was an unshakeable compulsion… tell me, Mr. Arc… compulsion or not, did you sympathize with anyone? Felt for them during their times of crisis."

"Of course," was Jaune's immediate answer.

"…I see now," the headmaster said as he closed his eyes. "I understand now why that man had called your kindness a weakness."

"Y-You do?" Jaune asked, stupefied.

"Indeed," the headmaster replied. "It's not that kindness in and of itself is a weakness, but rather the _extent_ of your kindness. Mr. Arc, you just said yourself that no matter what kind of toll was placed on you, you kept going… your desire to help is truly admirable, but it's now obvious to me that you were placing everyone else's happiness and well-being far above your own."

The blond winced. His own family had said as much multiple times.

"As for the 'fake' comment the man had made to you… it seems you yourself don't view yourself as a hero. Do you perhaps feel the man was right?"

At that question, Jaune's heartrate quickened. A mixture of genuine anger and grief now gripped him and it started to feel as though he was on the verge of hyperventilating.

How could he not? After all, it was the truth.

"…Yes," Jaune eventually managed to say. "He is right. I'm no hero, just a fake."

"But why do you feel that way?"

Jaune looked down in order to hide his wince from the older man. He'd told Blake and Pyrrha of what happened in his past, when his family had been attacked… but he'd left out a key detail. For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to tell them this detail.

But the headmaster… he was someone in a position of authority and a degree of professional confidentiality. Another way of putting it would that there should be a degree of objectivity here, unclouded by any real emotion.

Jaune was never one to even think of seeing a psychiatrist for anything, but after what had happened in Sol, the headmaster would suffice.

"…My semblance," he started, slowly raising his head but not quite looking the headmaster in the eyes just yet. "It gives me a great deal of power… but in return, it affects my own mentality. Ever since I awakened it, there's always been this… this powerful push within my own mind. Help others, save others, strike down evil… these words just started to repeat infinitely within me back then and all I could do was obey. Such was their hold over me. It became a function of existence for me – just like how we all we all breathe without any thought or effort on our part because we _need_ to breathe, I help others, save others, smite evil because I _need_ to. The only real thought that goes into these actions is how best to carry it out."

Jaune finally looked the headmaster in the eyes, his blue ones meeting the headmaster's gray eyes. "…I've no real say in this matter. As much as I sympathize with others over their struggles, I don't always _want_ to go as far as I do, but again I _have_ to. So… yeah…" he just trailed off awkwardly. Once again, he'd really just been rambling. He may have been stating the honest truth, but really he could've at least tried to think it out and words much more concisely and clearly. But in any case… "That man is right – I'm no hero. I'm just… I'm just a slave. And a slave has no choice in any given matter."

For what felt like an hour – in reality, perhaps only a minute or two – he sat there in silence, staring at the headmaster, whose composed expression was finally broken. Jaune, normally so good at being able to read other people's expressions, couldn't quite read the other man's – there was just too much emotion in it to really tell which one was the dominant one. The only thing he can be sure of is that he'd certainly left the headmaster feeling quite surprised.

Then, the headmaster started to recover himself, regaining his composure… but even then, not completely. "Mr. Arc…" the man trailed off, seemingly trying to compose his own thoughts. "…For what reason did you come to Beacon?"

"To find a purpose," Jaune answered quietly. "I know you said in your speech before initiation that Beacon isn't supposed to just give anyone a purpose just like that or anything… but even then, I'd hoped that at least by being here and being exposed to whatever would come my way that maybe, just maybe… I just want something to truly strive for, headmaster. While I may not always want to go as far as I do – at least, I don't think I do – I do at least want to be able to really concentrate my efforts on just one thing. To simply go through live, aimlessly helping one person after another… that's no way to live. I… there's just no telling how much longer I can just keep on living my life like this."

What he just said was a confession straight from his heart, one that left even him surprised. He'd come to Beacon for two reasons – one, to find a purpose to truly dedicate himself to and two, to try and normalize himself somehow per his family's desperate pleas. He'd felt these were two things he genuinely wanted and indeed, he did want to achieve these goals… but until now, he hadn't realized just how desperately he'd wanted to do something about his own condition.

…Had the mental effects of his own semblance somehow suppressed his true feelings so deep down? Considering how suddenly he'd lost interest in most of his hobbies from back then like dancing or playing the guitar, it wouldn't surprise him if this was the case.

And the fact that this thought didn't leave him horrified was just another horrifying indicator of how little free will he really had in the face of his own semblance.

"…I truly wish I had a helpful response to all of this, Mr. Arc," the headmaster began.

But the man didn't have to continue before Jaune started to nod his head. "N-No, I understand, sir… this was a lot to suddenly dump on you. For that, I'm sorry."

There was an awkward pause and Jaune suddenly stood up, his mind swiftly becoming a mess in the wake of all this.

"I-I should get going, sir. Wouldn't want to keep my team waiting," he said hastily before turning to leave.

"Wait."

That one word, spoken with authority yet also with a quiet kindness, made Jaune freeze in his tracks, not even daring to turn around.

"Yes, sir?" he managed to utter.

"I doubt this man was ever the first to make comments along those lines, no matter how seriously the words were spoken…" the headmaster stated and rightfully so. "So, what was it about this man in particular that rankled you so much?"

"…Because," Jaune slowly replied, thinking back again to that man. He remembered vividly the angry yet so very weary look in his eyes, the resignation that had been present in his huge body.

"…Somehow, he'd felt a lot like me," Jaune continued. "…Now that I think of it… it was almost like looking into a mirror."

The headmaster said nothing in response, seemingly rendered silent yet again by the words just spoken. Jaune couldn't take it anymore. His mind was slowly starting to unwind.

"I'll be taking my leave, sir. Thank you for your time… and sorry."

This time, when he started walking, the headmaster didn't stop him.

* * *

 **As you can tell, this was just covering the aftermath of the events at Sol. And for the first time, you get a real good look at Jaune's mental state. Now, I'm sure the whole mental effect his own semblance was having on him was painfully obvious from the start, but now it's explicitly stated within this fic and now with this done, expect to see some deconstruction going on with his mindset and actions. I can only hope that said deconstruction will turn out in a concise and thought-provoking manner.**

 **Now then, before any of you start to wonder why the hell Jaune suddenly started to act like this, there's a number of reasons for it. First and foremost, while his own semblance makes him a determinator among determinators, it's not as if any and all mental/emotional trauma he's gone through is just completely shrugged off – it just gets buried deep, _deep_ down. And it goes without saying just how dangerous repressing your own emotions can be.**

 **Secondly, as was also pointed out several times already, Hazel and Jaune are reflections of one another (this is something that will be further expanded upon over time) and it was his encounter with the man that sort of triggered Jaune's innermost feelings bubbling up. Hazel's own words to him didn't help either as this chapter shows.**

 **Thirdly, Jaune was already kind of skirting that dangerous line of instability from the very start of this fic, it's just that now in the wake of this mission that he's been officially pushed over said line.**

 **As for why he told all this to Ozpin but not his friends? That's easy, just look at ourselves in real life – just how often do we tell our loved ones every single thing that's been deeply bothering us? Just look at how many people will unload damn near all their secrets in therapy, when speaking to a psychiatrist, but keep all of this bottled up when speaking with family and friends. Same situation, just different setting.**

 **Anyways, yeah, just wanted to clear all that up in advance. Hope this makes sense.**

 **Also, don't think this is the end of things just yet – next chapter will also be continuing the aftermath of Sol and the Breach, but will be done through the points of views from other characters.**

 **Now then, until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	26. Chapter 26

Sorry for the long wait, everyone. The most recent chapter I wrote for my novel took quite a bit of time to really think out and write. Also, just real-life stuff constantly coming up. Nothing serious, but certainly time consuming in one form or another. Also, my birthday passed by in the last week of October so I'm now lamenting the fact I'm 26, just year closer to death…

Heh, just kidding. Simply living life as it comes by. Also, been busy trying to watch some movies like Terminator. Honestly, I liked it quite a bit. Obviously, it could have been better, but I was happy with what I got out of it.

Also, still been busy playing God of War that a coworker was kind enough to lend me some odd weeks ago. Let me tell you guys, to those of you who haven't played it, Sigrun is pretty damn hard on New Game+, even when I still had it on normal difficulty.

Alas, it's time to hand it back to my coworker so that I may now enjoy the newest game: Death Stranding! Time to see what all the whackiness is about!

Ah, also saw the first episode of volume 7 for RWBY… yeah. On this front, not too sure on what to say other than that it exists for right now. Only time will tell if my opinion will change on it.

Now then, onto the chapter! Do keep in mind that this will just be setting up what'll be coming up next.

P.S. Jazz Ears, couldn't agree with you more. When the very concept of the Maidens was even introduced, I'd been pretty interested to see what magic could really do, but so far it hasn't really been impressing me. One can only hope that'll change in the future of the series.

Chapter 26

One would think that after having their plan essentially hijacked by a bunch of brutes and pawns, one would be steaming mad. But to Cinder's own surprise, recent events haven't angered her anywhere near as much as she now thought in hindsight.

Oh, certainly she was annoyed – yet another plan down the drain thanks to outside events – but after having shift her focus over the past several days and weeks, she's found herself sort of just mellowing out in a way.

If anything, Adam Taurus and his forces commandeering the train she'd gone through the troubles of getting set up in the first place had been a bit of a boon. Though that particular phase of her initial plan had caused only a small amount of chaos compared to estimates made back then, it had still rattled the entirety of the kingdom, showing them that their 'peace' was nothing more than a false and oh so very fragile one. Now the civilians were on edge, something that was already causing some of the many Grimm outside the kingdom to begin stirring.

"Hmm, this may still work," she muttered to herself.

"Do you really think so, boss?" Mercury asked from nearby.

Currently, she and her two subordinates – Neo were here too with her, but she didn't count as a subordinate – were out within Vale itself, indulging themselves at a café of all places. Having chosen a private booth that still allowed them a bit of a view of the café, they were taking a bit of a break, especially since it wasn't as if they could do much else for the time being.

"It's very much possible. Look – though everyone is going on as if all is normal, you can see the tension in their bodies, in the way they move. Even if it's only at the back of their minds, they're wondering if the Breach was really the end of it all," she said, motioning slightly towards the rest of the people here in the café.

And indeed, her observation had been spot on. Though people were milling about and enjoying a quick bite and drink to have and the workers performed their duties as always, many people had their shoulders hunched up. Those in the midst of some laughter during quiet but presumably humorous conversations laughed rather awkwardly, their movements restrained.

After so many years without any real Grimm incidents, the Breach had been a serious wake-up call for Vale.

It seemed like the Vytal Festival may still be planned for the same time, however. Alas, due to all the recent changes going on with her own plans and the like, she didn't quite have the same information network that she had before. But she was confident that, at most, the Vytal Festival would still be held if only at a somewhat later date.

It wouldn't matter much, however; in the end, that pathetic event had always been intended to serve as yet another distraction, albeit a significant one. Setting up the circumstances to evoke another Breach or at least an event that would cause enough distress in the people to get the Grimm to attack would be relatively easy, so it wasn't as if the Vytal Festival had to be their grand stage.

All things considered, she was just happy that she'd still been able to upload the virus to the CCT. So long as that virus remained there, she could hack Atlas' technology and take over their drones and the like at the drop of a hat.

But again, that would be something to hold off on until she can manufacture another major incident, for the sake of creating a truly grand scale of mayhem and disorder, that way she'd have all the time necessary to search Beacon for the Maiden while they were all mobilized.

"So… just what exactly do we do until then, ma'am?" Emerald asked from where she sat across from her. "I-I mean, under much different circumstances, we would've already been in Beacon as students, just going through the motions of their stupid classes until it was time. Since that's not a thing anymore…"

A valid point. While anyone with a brain knew that it takes time to execute actual plans, the idea of simply sitting on her hands for the time being wasn't something that appealed to her. With how swiftly things had changed thanks to Jaune Arc and his friends all that time ago, it wouldn't do to risk anything similar occurring.

She'd taken the initiative in adapting her plans to still try and accomplish her main goal, but it still wasn't enough. More was needed.

But what exactly to do? Try and kill Jaune Arc and his friends? They'd already proven themselves to be shocking adept at interfering with her own efforts at the most unexpected and even outright improbable of times. She didn't fancy them somehow doing so a third time.

However, unlike little Neo by her side, who seemed to be thinking along similar lines judging by her silent grimace, Cinder wasn't so focused on the blond teen as to be blind to everything else.

She was well aware of the fact that some soldiers from Atlas along with another team from Beacon had been the ones to come across the White Fang and drive them back as well as mitigating how much damage the train should've caused, thus proving that there were indeed other factors involved here.

And there wasn't a doubt in her mind that Ozpin and his own inner circle were at the helm for at least some of this. Just as she'd been adapting to what's been going on, so have they.

What new contingencies had they come up with? Were any already being implemented? There was no way to tell – it wasn't as if they were going to leave any records of what they discussed on any database.

But it was vital to stay at least a few steps ahead.

Causing a major incident so soon after the Breach wouldn't work – everyone would be far too on guard. It would be best to wait on that for the time being, until Beacon was at its most vulnerable.

However… that isn't to say some small incidents can't be started to divide up Beacon's and Atlas' attention for the time being.

Enjoying a long sip of her drink, Cinder looked intently between Mercury and Emerald before then looking to Neo.

After a long moment of contemplation, a small but rather wicked smile crossed her face.

"This is what we'll do…"

* * *

Hazel had paused for the time being to rest for a little bit. Though physical exertion wasn't something he's felt for years and years now, even he needed to sleep after a time.

And so, he did just that, settling down for a brief nap in the middle of the day, though thanks to all the forestry around him, much of the sun was blocked out.

Though surrounded by a number of Grimm, Hazel felt completely alone, a feeling he's long since grown used to… but as he slept, memories of old began to play out and he soon found the solitude almost unbearable.

Thus, after barely an hour of rest, he awoke with quite the grimace. And as if in response to his sour mood, the Grimm under his control growled in turn.

"Quiet," he barked out and the Grimm fell immediately and blissfully silent.

He sighed as he then stood up, knowing what was the cause of this – the events of just the other day, the battle he'd fought against the blond boy.

…perhaps he'd been more affected by it than he'd initially thought.

"I should've just killed him," he muttered. How naïve of him, to think that the boy would just die of wounds sustained.

But maybe… no, he highly doubted it. As if such a brutal beating would've snapped the boy out of that pathetic, all-sacrificing mindset of his. If it were that easy to get another person to change their mind on something so foolish and self-destructive, humanity as whole would be a lot different.

"Oho, I see you've improved your control a great deal," someone suddenly called, a man due to how deep his voice was.

Hazel was hardly surprised by someone finding him, for he'd detected the man coming just now, even with how deep in thought he'd just been.

It was indeed a testament to his control over the Grimm that none of them even remotely tried to attack the newcomer, Hazel's mental connection with them so strong that just a little bit of his subconscious was leaking into them, allowing them to recognize those that Hazel himself considers allies.

Such as this man, for example.

"…It's unlike you to be out in the field, Watts," Hazel said as the man fully approached him.

Arthur Watts, looking as impeccable as always in his suit, adjusted his coat a tad bit whilst chuckling. "Even I like to stretch my legs once in a while."

"I highly doubt that's the only reason you came out here," Hazel calmly retorted. "…Well, out with it. For what reason have you come to me?"

Though very rarely used nowadays, Hazel did possess a scroll, which was obviously used only to stay in contact with his other 'associates' when out in the field. However, none of them ever really contacted one another unless absolutely necessary.

Watts, of course, was no exception, often acting as Salem's intermediary as well as coordinating their efforts as needed. The disgraced scientist could've easily called him up, but instead he must have tracked his scroll to his current location and made his way here.

"Given that you're out here in the field, I assume you've been unable to keep up with the news, yes?" Watts asked. When Hazel merely gave him a flat stare, the man chuckled and continued. "Quite recently, a White Fang cell led by Adam Taurus had taken over a part of our dear Cinder's plan and used it to breach Vale. People have taken to calling the event the Breach – and what a creative name that is." His sarcasm was as plain as day there.

Hazel hummed a bit. "…I see. What of it, though? Has Salem decided to help Cinder out?"

"Hardly," Watts replied with a huff. "However, our majesty has decided that in light of recent changes, it was time for the rest of us to begin moving out. She explicitly told me that Cinder is free to carry out whatever plans she has as she see fits still, but that the time to make our own move has come as well."

Hazel quirked an eyebrow at that. That certainly was unexpected. "Did she ever explain why?"

"No. But as we both well know by now, she's capable of seeing things beyond our ability to see, of detecting changes that we can't even begin to notice. She must have noticed something to warrant such a change. In any case, the time to idle has come and passed by. Now it is the time for action and that's something not even I can afford to pass up. I came here to join you, for our paths conveniently coincide."

Seeing as he was slowly making his way towards Vale whilst testing out his new ability over the Grimm… "Atlas?" This was the sole word Hazel could bother speaking.

The way Watts' eyes narrowed with dark glee was all the answer he needed, really. "Indeed… though my superiority over them all is all but objective fact, I still have something to make very clear to them."

Anyone else would've probably found Watts' grudge to be stupid. However, Hazel was quite sympathetic, given his own vendetta against Ozpin. That said…

"Doesn't seem particularly smart to go directly up against the Atlas military," he commented. "Even when accounting for your semblance, there's still a limit to it."

Watts merely smirked. "Oh, not to worry. I still intend to do this smartly – after all, I am superior to them all when it comes to intelligence."

"…As long as you know when to toe the line, Watts."

"Ha, you're hardly one to talk, Hazel." Watts' remark lacked the usual bite it had whenever he was discussing Atlas or speaking to Cinder. This was because the disgraced scientist held a certain respect for him, a respect that Hazel returned to an extent.

Thus, all he could do was just nod and begin his trek again, the Grimm around them slowly being roused from their silent and unmoving states into action. Watts slowly followed.

"Ah," Watts began, sounding like he was now switching topics here. "Also, I took the liberty of hacking into the databases huntsmen generally use. So far, there's been no notice of you put out. Not yet, at least."

Hazel grunted. "I see," he muttered, thinking on this bit of news.

It's been enough time for that team of trainees to make it back to Beacon, meaning they would've already reported all that they knew to Ozpin and even if somehow their description of him was lacking, Ozpin would know well by now that he'd been responsible for what had happened to Sol. That no warning had been put out about him just yet was a bit odd… but he's come to learn that Ozpin, in addition to being a complete bastard, was a crafty one. Things that seemed like common sense to some people simply wouldn't register with him.

"Keep an eye out then, if you can," the large man finally said. "Not that it would make a difference, a notice of me being put out there, but depending on what such a thing might say, it could cause some inconveniences."

"I'm well aware," Watts commented. "Not to worry, I've already set up my scroll to alert me if a notice of you does come up. I highly doubt it, however – it's not as if Ozpin would be so foolish as to send more huntsmen to their deaths against you. That said… you sometimes have the uncanny misfortune of attracting fights. But that aside too, even if a notice does come out warning people to stay away from you, it's not as if entire towns or villages can uproot themselves and relocate."

"Even so, stay on top of things," Hazel said. "As much as I hate that parasite, he is a cunning one. He wouldn't have held out this long against Salem if he wasn't."

"Hmph, I suppose you've a point. Though not mutually exclusive, age does tend to give one much experience," Watts responded.

There was then a long silence between them as they continued their journey to Vale on foot, a journey that should at most last a week or two if they're willing to simply take their time.

However, some time later, Hazel spoke again. "Where's Tyrian, now that I think of him?"

"He's still in Mistral," Watts replied. "Locating Raven Branwen is quite the task since she and her pathetic tribe of vermin tend to stay on the move quite regularly."

Quite some time ago, Tyrian had been tasked with tracking down and capturing the Spring Maiden. Back then, the young woman who'd become the Spring Maiden had broken under the pressure of this hidden war between Salem and Ozpin and had fled to Raven Branwen and her bandit tribe for safety. At the time this happened, their side hadn't been too sure of where the Maiden had run off to, but after some consideration, they'd come to the conclusion it was Raven if only due to the fact she was one of the very few outside of Ozpin's little circle that was aware of what was going on and thus knew best to stay on the move. Even though her own defection from Ozpin's side was a well-known fact to them, she would've still been the most ideal person for the young Maiden to have gone to.

Alas, Mistral was a very big place to put it mildly and though Raven and her tribe had a penchant for setting up large and almost even elaborate campsites, they had no problem abandoning said sites – after all, said campsites could easily be remade elsewhere with wood and stone from their surroundings and supplies taken from raided villages.

"He says he's made some headway," Watts continued. "How much, however, remains to be seen."

"Hmm. Tyrian is the best of us when it comes to tracking," Hazel said. "And our best fighter excluding myself. If he says he's finally made progress, then maybe we'll finally have a Maiden captured within the next few weeks or so."

"One can only hope. Now, how about we pick up the pace just a tad bit?"

Hazel sighed, but not unkindly. "I suppose even you can have some moments of impatience."

And so, as they did indeed pick up the pace a bit, the two of them continued their quiet but light-hearted talk.

* * *

Adam was a man of discipline and focus… that said, that didn't mean he didn't have his moments of anger, for the ruined room all around him now attested to.

"Damn it all…!" he grunted out as he finally began to truly calm down. For the past day or so, he's tried to keep his cool, but upon realizing that he wasn't settling down, he'd opted to just find a random place to mindlessly thrash. It proved surprisingly therapeutic.

Now that he was beginning to calm himself, he exited the ruined room and took a seat outside, surrounded by some small tents some of his subordinates had set up to sleep in.

Following the botched train operation, he and his remaining men had been forced to retreat to a secret bunker well away from Mount Glenn. Because of its small size, it was impossible to fit all of them in there, but thankfully they'd made sure to stash some supplies in it well in advance of the operation in the first place, supplies had been used to construct these tents to accommodate all of them and then some.

Because this location was also one well out of the way of the Grimms' usual stomping grounds, they were mercifully deprived of Grimm to deal with, which gave them all time to recuperate their losses.

That said, the way the operation had so suddenly gone south had really left a number of them feeling angry and others even flat out rattled.

As leader, it was up to him to deal with this fallout, but as he himself had been angered by how things had turned out, he'd done a poor job of settling everyone else down.

Time to change that.

"You there, get me a map of Vale," he called out to a random member that had been passing by.

A minute later, the person – a Kangaroo Faunus – hopped back with rather impressive speed and map in hand. Taking it, Adam headed for the nearest table and cleared it to lay the map down.

As he did so, some other people took notice of this and approached him almost wearily.

"Is there a way to make a comeback, sir?" one of them asked with restrained eagerness.

"Perhaps," was all Adam bothered saying as he studied the map. This was actually something he tried doing yesterday, but he'd been in too bad a mood to really focus, especially since he'd also had to focus on making sure everyone and everything was accounted for after their trek here.

Now, however, he was looking at it with a far clearer mind and so he studied it closely.

From estimations made before the operation had been in full swing, a solid portion of downtown Vale was to be completely overrun with Grimm and while it was to be expected for huntsmen and the Atlas military to clear all the Grimm out, the number of casualties would've been in at least the low hundreds and with property damage being in the hundreds of thousands of Lien. This was excluding the damage the train itself would've caused by busting through Vale's ground.

However, thanks to the efforts of Winter Schnee and her forces along with that huntress team – Blake's team – the train had caused only minimal damage and the number of Grimm that had even made it into Vale was far below what had initially been thought. Casualties had still occurred but in far fewer numbers. Same thing went for property damage.

Suffice to say, their attack had packed a lot less 'oomph' than they'd wished for.

…Well, if nothing else, at least it had grabbed the populace's attention, showed those pathetic humans that the White Fang meant business this time.

Still, it wasn't enough. If the White Fang was to show all of Remnant just how powerful they truly are, how dedicated they are to their goals, then the only way to do that would be to accomplish something that can't just be sweat under a rug after a week or two.

Alas, the only way that was going to happen would be if they either took out Beacon or managed to take out the entire council and neither one was looking feasible right now. In the case of the former, they were isolated from most of Vale, so any attack that could be launched would be seen coming miles away. Even if a small strike force was to try and sneak their way to Beacon, there's no way it'd be strong enough to take on even a portion of the student body and staff. As for attacking the council, they were all spread out and their residencies were well-guarded. Though not impossible, attacking them in one of their homes or even on their way to somewhere else would be extremely difficult.

Adam grunted, somewhat annoyed. For as big of a kingdom as it is, Vale was rather lacking when it came to locations that could really warrant some shock value should it be attacked. And attacking celebrities wouldn't exactly do much in advancing his agenda.

The bull Faunus supposed they could maybe sink shipments making their way to Vale, but after what had happened at the docks that one time, he was certain new countermeasures had already been put in place.

"Nothing come to mind, huh…?" one of the surrounding White Fang members muttered dispiritedly.

"Vale's a pretty bad target, I guess…"

"Yeah, except for maybe Beacon, but even then…"

"But damn though, if it wasn't for that traitor and that human team of hers!"

"Yeah, she was even working with a Schnee of all people-!"

All chatter started to slowly cut off within Adam's mind as he focused ever harder on what to do next.

"Blake…" he muttered, thinking of the girl he'd thought he'd never see again, only to then see her again during the operation.

Once upon a time, the two of them had been good friends, eager to make their mark in the world by paving the way for Faunus equality. And when the previously peaceful White Fang's efforts proved to be ineffective, he'd been the first out of the two of them and their little circle of friends to take steps in becoming strong for the sake of their race.

He'd become a mentor of sorts for Blake and for others and whatever new skills he'd picked up, he'd done his damnedest to teach to her as well… and before long, she'd become his partner and together the two of them had gone on many missions to see their new vision of the future realized.

He'd thought Blake to be like him – a true believer of the cause, willing to do whatever it took, no matter how horrible, in order to ensure the Faunus had bright and shining future they deserved. He'd had no idea that she'd ever started to doubt the White Fang, especially not to the point of defecting.

…No, now that he's had time to reflect, he could see the signs of Blake's discontentment during the months leading up to her departure. Hindsight really was twenty-twenty. Hell, she'd even taken to hiding her ears for the last several weeks of their time together. That she no longer hid her ears amongst those human companions of hers just made this fact that much more painful to be aware of now.

But had she simply left to live the rest of her life in secrecy and false peace, that would've been one thing. It wouldn't have made the hurt any better, but he would've understood; even he sometimes grew a little weary of all of the things that had to be done. But instead of doing that, she chose to instead head to Beacon… and all for what? For some perceived level of redemption? Just to spite the White Fang, an organization that her own father had established? Something else?

He honestly couldn't fully fathom the girl's reasons, but if she was now so keen on impeding their progress, then so be it. It will hurt, having to cut her down… but he'll cut her down if he must.

…

…

However… perhaps he won't have to. At least not just yet.

"Hmm." He backed away from the map, an action that caused all the chatter around him to cease.

All eyes now on him, one of the White Fang member looked at him with a small bit of hope in his eyes. "H-Hey, Adam? Did you just think of something?"

"…Perhaps. I will need to dwell on it a while first though, make sure it's even feasible…. But tell me this: do we have anyone good at hacking?"

There was a long beat of silence as everyone around him looked back and forth between one another and for that whole moment, Adam worried that he'd been hoping for too much.

But then…

"Well, not among us right now… but back at home base, we got quite a few guys that know their way around that kind of thing."

Adam didn't quite smile… but the corners of his mouth were up-turned just a bit. "I see. I'll get back to you lot later. I need to think this through. For now, just prepare for departure – in any case, it's time to relocate to somewhere much more well-equipped."

His words, though vague and not really promising anything, were still enough to lift the others' collective mood a fair bit and they left him to his own devices.

Now on his own, Adam took a seat and planted his blade into the ground, hands lightly resting upon its pommel as he thought.

Due to his own admittedly narrow-minded way of thinking, he's stuck to full frontal assaults most of the time… but thanks to his time working so very much in the shadows as a result of being under Cinder's thumb, he's come to learn the finer points of subterfuge.

If trying to attack another location wasn't possible nor would generate the shock value needed… then what if instead, he tried making an example of someone instead?

If word was leaked to the media about a White Fang member defecting and going to Beacon of all places… and right under the headmaster's very nose at that too, just how would the public react? And what if this White Fang member was none other than the daughter of the man who made the organization in the first place?

"…My apologies, Ghira," he whispered to himself. He knew all too well that the man, though ultimately inept, had truly meant the best when he'd first formed the White Fang. But really now, just how many people out there would even remember that the organization had once been a peaceful one? Not many, he'd imagine.

And in turn, he could imagine all too well how everyone, especially the majority of those damned humans, would react to having a former White Fang member hiding among them.

…Very well then, he supposed. Blake will be of service to them one more time… and _only_ one more time.

And when it comes time to execute her for being a traitor to both sides, he shall be the one to deliver the final blow, for all the world to see.

From one believer to a former believer, from one former friend to another… he'll grant her that mercy. This, he swears.

* * *

Qrow Branwen was many things. A badass huntsman, an even more kickass uncle, a high-functioning drunk, a perpetual cynic, a less-than-always-successful skirt-chaser and something of a grumbler when it came to work.

Ok, that started to sound a little too self-depreciating towards the end there, the man in question thought, but hey, his semblance sucks balls so he supposed it was expected for him to be how he is.

Anyways, his little silent diatribe aside, he had to buck up and get things done. He may be a cynic and a grumbler, but if there was one other thing that could be said about himself, it's that he's never one to back down from a task.

That said, he did wish this was one task he hadn't been given. Hell, he wished this was a task that didn't have to be given to anyone at all.

"Oz, I really hope you know what you're doing," he mumbled before taking a quick swig from his flask, which he always made sure was topped off whenever he passed by a town or village.

A fair bit of time ago, Ozpin had decided to give him the ever so wonderful task of tracking down his oh so pleasant sister. Naturally, he'd protested vehemently when his longtime friend had asked this of him, had listed just about every reason under the sun why Raven was one of the last people they should ever bother seeking out.

His sister might have once been something of a morally just person, if unpleasant – time around Summer and especially Tai had softened her hardened heart up, if only to an extent – but that same abrasive but well-meaning person died the day she'd decided to suddenly up and leave Tai and Yang behind to fend for themselves while she returned to their dear old tribe of criminals. Ever since then, she's taken to becoming the tribe's new leader and had wasted no time in doing the same exact shit the tribe used to do before, raiding and pillaging settlements for resources and sometimes for shits and giggles.

Needless to say, Qrow didn't have a particularly high opinion of his sister nowadays. Why exactly the Spring Maiden, young as she'd been or not, had decided to panic and go to Raven of all people for safety was something Qrow would never discover or understand. In any case though, with how crazy things seem to be getting in more recent times, he did grudgingly admit that Oz had a point in trying to once again have a united front. There'd be no other way of beating Salem otherwise.

Still… he wasn't looking forward to seeing Raven again. Really, he didn't. He didn't know why she suddenly ran off on all of them, but considering what she's been up to since then, he was sure that the reason was bullshit. And while he's grown up since he was a punk teen, Qrow knew himself well enough that he and Raven might come to blows if they say the wrong thing towards each other.

He sighed. "Ah well, I guess everything comes full circle some time," he commented. Despite all he's learned ever since Oz brought him and the others into the fold, Qrow's personal horizons have expanded considerably, but even then he was hardly a believer of things such as fate or destiny. Still, even then, he supposed that there really were higher forces at work sometimes.

Now that said, damn, if only Raven would just save him a bit of trouble and come to him first. With her semblance, approaching him would be all too easy and by now she had to be aware that someone was inquiring about her in these parts of Mistral. Alas, it seems his sister really wasn't in a mood to talk.

Fine then, have it her way, he figured. It wasn't as if she could hide forever. Though he didn't doubt for a second that the tribe had updated their methods to go along with the changes in Remnant as a whole, there was still a whole lot that must have stayed the same. Naturally, this included their general actions and movements. In all honesty, the only reason it was even taking him as long as it was to find her and the tribe was because Mistral was a big damn land to search, even with his knowledge of the tribe's general movements and the like. That, and well, he wasn't in a big enough hurry to reunite with Raven anytime soon.

In any case, he was getting close now, he could feel it. At this point, he could only hope that his own semblance doesn't screw him over though; it had a bad habit of doing that whenever it seemed like he was making genuine progress in any endeavor he undertook.

"Alright, Raven… hope you're at least willing to talk when I find you… because when I do, I'm not going to head back empty-handed after all this," he muttered.

And so, Qrow continued his trek throughout the lands of Mistral. Little did he know, his semblance was already hard at work in screwing him over.

* * *

 **Yeah, sorry this chapter is considerably shorter than usual, but as I stated in the previous chapter, this one was basically just going to continue focusing on the fallout of the Breach and the like anyways. Additionally, as you all can surmise, it sets up what'll be happening next in short order.**

 **Cinder will be making a move soon, Hazel and Watts are heading for Vale, Adam and his cell are going to start prepping their next operation and both Tyrian and Qrow have been sent out to find Raven and by extension the Spring Maiden.**

 **Expect things to get messy and fast once this new ball really gets rolling.**

 **So… yeah. Other than that, not much else that really needs to be said, I think. But of course, any questions you guys have, I'll be more than happy to answer if you PM or you leave it in the reviews, in which case I'll either PM you guys or just answer it in the next chapter's AN.**

 **Now, not sure when exactly I'll get the next chapter out – my novel right now has been having increasingly longer chapters – but I'll try to get it out as soon as possible.**

Until next time, everyone. Take care!


	27. Chapter 27

Once again, sorry for the wait, everyone. Like before, took me some time to write the new chapter for my original novel. Oh, and I've also been seriously into Death Stranding too, heh. Seriously, that game just has a way of keeping me distracted for way too many hours at a time. I understand that it's not exactly a game for everyone, but for me, it's definitely been a fun time so far. Hell, I'm barely 5 episodes in out of the story, but I've must have logged over 30+ hours just roaming and doing side stuff. A pity my delivery stat is so low though, but then again it's not as if many timed missions come up that often… plus, I tend to use the trike if possible, no idea if using that somehow affects how big a porter grade bonus I get.

Anyways, that aside, yeah, not too much going on. Been working still, always looking for a new job – even had a job interview recently, felt good about it – and in general just living life one day at a time. Also started my Christmas shopping too a little… not much to get on that front – my immediate family don't exactly have much in terms of wants. Did get my brother a game for the Switch though since my mom decided to get him the console itself, so there is that.

Ah, but now I'm just rambling! Enough of that! Time to get what really matters for you guys – the chapter! And on that front, I guess you can say the new arc finally begins for real. Not going to say much else on that front, but I do hope it'll be one that you guys enjoy!

P.S. Hadn't exactly been too keen on Jaune's volume 7 hairstyle at first, but it's started to grow on me recently. How about you guys?

Chapter 27

"Damndamndamndamn!" A guy mumbled this one minor curse out over and over again rapidly, a result of panic.

Despite having been on the run for barely a minute or so, he was already breathing hard and sweating, a sign of how out of shape he was. Nonetheless, he kept on going with surprising tenacity.

This wasn't how he wanted things to end today.

In the wake of the Breach, he'd felt now would've been as good a time as any to take advantage of the aftermath and get himself some new stuff. He'd called up some of his buddies to see if they wanted to join his little raid and they'd readily agreed. They figured that even though it's already been a week since the Breach, people would still be too rattled and all that to really be focusing on other stuff. And yeah sure, the Atlas military may be around now too, but they'd clearly been more focused on dealing with clean up than anything else. Plus, those disgustingly clean and proper uniforms of their really stood out.

Anyways, this guy and several of his buddies had entered several stores that had all but been officially declared abandoned – the owners and workers must have become really paranoid about the Grimm suddenly popping out of nowhere, he'd figured – and so had taken to scrounging around some damn good shit that had just been left.

Things had been good at first, his little search having gone uninterrupted and with him and his gang cracking some hilarious fucking jokes. He'd even found a new TV that he'd been eyeing for a longtime…

…And that had been when things had gone to shit.

Out of nowhere, these four teens – Beacon students – had practically come out of nowhere and took down his pals like it was nothing. He'd only avoided being subdued because he'd lucked out by being closest to a side exit. And thanks to having been crouching down behind a nearby shelf in order to tie his shoe, he'd been able to seemingly avoid being seen and made a real hasty retreat, but at the expense of leaving behind all the shit he'd gotten.

Hence his current predicament.

"Goddamnit!" he muttered as he huffed and puffed. "What kind of shitty luck do I have today?!"

He fancied himself a tough guy, but going up against four trainees from Beacon? Screw that!

"…Huh?" He'd taken a back alley and cut through some other small side streets in order to throw them off, having figured they must have realized someone else had been there. If only for a split second, he'd entertained the thought that he might actually get away.

Except now, at the end of the alleyway he was currently running through, there was someone there. A tall and well-built blond teen. The teen's blue eyes stared at him intensely and the guy immediately shuddered.

In that instant, he felt like just giving up right then and there. But as far he could tell, it was only the one guy.

Trying to do anything against four trainees would've been the stupidest thing he could ever do… but getting around just one of them? Maybe it was possible.

"Come on, come on!" he now yelled, no longer seeing a point in just staying quiet. He was trying to psyche himself up as he kept on running.

And the teen just stood there, perfectly still.

The guy closed the gap between them quickly enough and tried to tackle him, if only to knock him aside. "Dumbass!" he yelled as he attempted to do just that.

And that was when the teen moved.

The next thing the guy knew, he was swept off his feet with such force that he went spinning back several times before he was suddenly snatched out of the air and slammed into the ground, arms then maneuvered behind his back.

The man was in complete shock, but even now he tried to futilely resist. "D-Damn it, get off me, you-!"

The teen spoke for the first time, interrupting him. "You've a right to remain silent," he said with an intensity that allowed no backtalk. The man actually fell silent as a result, the shudder from just now returning and with even greater intensity than before.

"Now… be still," the teen continued and the man went still, feeling a level of fear that he hadn't felt before in his life.

And so, this was how this thug came to be so suddenly taken in by one Jaune Arc.

* * *

"Thanks a lot for the help, you four," spoke a man that looked to be in his forties. He was a police officer and a haggard looking one right now. "Ever since the Breach, a lot of punks out there have been feeling a hell of a lot bolder, no doubt to try and take advantage of the chaos still present."

"You're welcome," responded Jaune with a small smile as another officer has preoccupied with escorting the man he'd caught into the police cruiser nearby. "We're just happy to do what we can."

After another minute or so of small talk and clearing up some other details, Jaune and his team took their leave.

"Sheesh, you'd really think guys like that would know not to mess around when we're around!" boasted Nora, though said girl was looking just a bit tired.

"It can't be helped," spoke Ren. "It's just the nature of things."

"Still, it's rather frightening to see just how common this has become now." That was Pyrrha who'd spoken and she did indeed sound a little off-put.

Jaune could only nod.

It was far from uncommon for those belonging to the criminal element to take advantage of any chaos that brewed. And even though Vale as a whole was already doing much better in the span of just a single week, it wasn't as if things had fully gotten back to how they were before just yet. That meant opportunity was in abundance for thugs like the ones they'd just brought to justice. And even with the Atlas military around, it wasn't as if they were literally everywhere. Plus, they stood out too much. Even when in plain clothes, members of the Atlas military were far too well-dressed and moved too much like soldiers to really blend in.

And so, because of this, missions to patrol the streets of Vale were swiftly becoming common in Beacon. Of course, being first years, they still had classes to attend and so they could really only patrol either in the very early morning or during the afternoons and nights, but second years and up had much more free time on their hands and so could better take on these missions should they choose to.

In this case, it was already getting close to night, with the thugs they'd apprehended having tried to use the last bit of daylight to do their searching within the empty stores.

Because it was so late, JNPR decided as a whole to simply find somewhere to eat as opposed to making a meal of their own back in Beacon, especially since they were to keep patrolling for at least another two or so hours.

Whether it was by luck or some form of fate, they ended up at the same place they'd gone to when they'd first officially become a team. They even ended up ordering the same food from that time too.

Dinner was a quiet affair for the most part, with Nora once again providing most of the noise. This was something Jaune was really quite thankful for. Dare he even say it, it almost seemed to heal him as he ate and enjoyed his friends' company.

…

…It was hard for him to believe even now how he'd acted during his private talk with the headmaster. Hell, just about everything he'd even said to the headmaster at that time had shocked even himself, really.

…He'd known that his own semblance had been having an effect on his very psyche, but to think it'd been suppressing so many doubts and worries like that… it was truly a surreal feeling, to know now intellectually that a power that by all rights should be under his control was instead the one controlling him. That such a thought didn't scare him really should be a concerning thing now more than ever, but it wasn't.

In fact, weird as this would sound aloud, he was almost grateful to discover now just how much of an effect his semblance was having on him. It'd long since been something of a concern for him that parts of his original personality were just completely gone, but to know now that instead they were merely being suppressed… it was oddly relieving. Even if said suppressed parts were his greater concerns and fears, that they still existed was a sign that the person he'd once been still technically existed too.

That he'd been able to even voice some of these suppressed doubts and fears to the headmaster too had also been an amazing thing to do. He felt different now, lighter and in a way that was different from how he'd told Pyrrha and Blake of part of his past.

Was this what it meant to open up to someone? It was by no means a bad feeling at all.

…That said…

Jaune let out a long sigh and it drew attention.

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha immediately asked him, her voice full of concern. Across from her and him sat Nora and Ren, both of whom stopped what they were doing to eye him too.

"I'm okay," he replied with a small smile (that's a lie, some part of him whispered) and raised his hands a little in a placating manner. "I've just been thinking still about what happened in Sol."

And indeed, the events of Sol had been playing out in his mind far more often than what could be deemed healthy.

The actions of that man as well his words were weighing heavily on him, so much so that it'd been precisely because of this that he'd even acted the way he had at all during his talk with the headmaster. It showed him that it impacted him so heavily precisely because it just resonated with something within him. And certainly, after his talk with the headmaster, he was feeling much better, but that had hardly been far from enough to make these memories leave the forefront of his thoughts.

This meant that there was a reason why this was still the case.

And judging by the now hard looks in each of his friends' eyes, it seems like it was bothering them a lot too, though they weren't privy to what the man had said to him.

"…We," Pyrrha began. "We really hadn't been able to do much against him, right?"

Jaune could only close his eyes and nod solemnly in acknowledgement of her words.

Although Dean and the others from Sol had all but shrugged their apologies off for failing them, that didn't mean they were just going to be okay with the results of their mission.

"To think someone out there could have some measure of control over the Grimm…" Ren muttered quietly in disbelief and horror. "The possibilities that could come about from this…"

Beside the R of JNPR, Nora could only grunt and chug her soda, her gaze tightening up at nothing in particular in the process. "We're gonna have to get a lot stronger," she stated simply.

"Far, far stronger," Pyrrha said as she made a fist and clenched it tightly. "…It'd been one thing to merely know how much others could depend on us as huntsmen and huntresses… but to now know firsthand what the fallout could be like and how much worse it could've been… it's not a feeling I ever want to experience again."

"Heh, damn right!" Nora nearly bellowed in agreement, the volume of her voice a sign of how much she agreed.

Ren smiled a bit and then looked to Jaune. "…How about you, Jaune? How do you feel about this? After all… you'd fought the hardest out of us, but also…" He trailed off.

It went without saying how he'd wanted to finish that sentence. Indeed, Jaune had done the very best he could against that man. He'd fought as hard as his body could endure. He did his best to adapt to the man's moves and tried to exploit whatever gaps said movements had left… only for it to all be for nothing. The man had been stronger and tougher and had merely changed up the flow of his own attacks to constantly throw off Jaune's own movements and in turn had adapted to Jaune's movements instead. That man was by and far the most powerful person Jaune had ever gone up against and he'd suffered dearly for it.

Though he hadn't said it aloud or even really noted it himself until now, but that had bene the closest he's ever been to dying. If not for how quickly he could recover…

Alas, the thought of death is not what scared him. What did scare him was the fact that he'd failed.

It'd be one thing to simply die… but to die and potentially doom others to similar fates as a direct result of his own failure… that was the most terrifying thing to him.

…No… perhaps that was no longer the most terrifying thing after all, he thought with a silent hum, recalling what he'd said to the headmaster about his suppressed thoughts.

Well, that was food for later thought.

"We do need to be better," he simply said in response to Ren's question. He held up his right hand and stared at it, making a fist and then proceeding to clench and unclench it.

He could already tell that he was significantly stronger than before, a result of that battle and his subsequent recovery from it… but even though he was already stronger than before, he still couldn't help but feel that he was still far from a level that allow him to actually defeat that man should they come to blows again.

And there was no telling just when – not 'if' – the next time would be where they have to fight that man again.

But what to do? Training went without saying, but it would only get them so far.

"…Looks like the only way we'll really be able to improve," he began. "Would be to just keep going on missions."

Ultimately, his answer to this dilemma was the same exact one he'd come to when he first started out on his journey. Certainly, he'd trained as hard as he could in order to get the level he'd been at when he first arrived in Vale, but it'd also been thanks to the myriad number of people and Grimm he'd gone up against out in the frontier that had really helped him hone all of his skills.

All the training in the world meant nothing if what they learned never got put to use out in the field.

"We need to keep challenging ourselves," he continued as he put his hand down. "We need to take on more and more difficult missions… challenge every single limit we have… only then will we actually grow to a level where we'll never fail others ever again."

That was right, he realized. For all his concerns, both suppressed and unsuppressed, this was all simply just another challenge to be overcome, had to be overcome for the sake of the greater good and… and…!

"…for myself…" he whispered as he then lowered his head, once again thinking back to what that man had said.

That man had accused him of his kindness being a weakness, due to not having wanted to push his body past its literal breaking point for the sake of the people of Sol. He'd also called him a faker who was far too selfless for his own good essentially.

But just how could he be called a faker for being selfless? True, he may be more of a slave to his semblance rather than actual hero… but just what exactly did the man mean when he'd said a true hero wouldn't be so selfless…?

Jaune couldn't even begin to answer that question, but he knew one thing. This desire to grow stronger alongside his friends… he really did want to do so if only partly for himself.

And somehow, that silent affirmation was enough to make him feel much better than before.

Having been looking down for the past moment, the blond leader looked back up and into the eyes of his friends, all of whom wore expressions of steel-like resolve. His words just now have resonated with them and had awakened within them a fire that hadn't fully been there before.

They were in full agreement with his words and the sense of comradery he felt in this moment was enough to lift his spirit even more.

It was with a slight sense of awkwardness that the four of them then resumed eating their dinner and quickly made their way back to their assigned sector to patrol, but even so, it was with all of them being in far better spirits than when they'd first started.

And as they now animatedly discussed future plans, Jaune allowed himself for the first time since returning from their failed mission to loosen up a little.

There was a change on the horizon now. He could sense it… and welcomed it with open arms.

* * *

Ruby stared.

Weiss stared.

Yang stared.

But Blake especially stared.

"Ah, come on, you're making me feel weird here."

Blake winced slightly from embarrassment before finally blinking. "Sorry, it's just that… you look quite different now, Tukson."

The man, who'd just spoken, hummed. "I'd imagine so – probably just got too used to my previous look."

With everything that had been going on recently, Blake hadn't really been able to meet up with Tukson. However, today had proven to be just enough of a slow day for her and her friends to finally contact the man and meet up with him at a little restaurant that was a bit out of the ways for most people, thus there weren't many customers right now, leaving them all free to talk without hassle.

Anyways, the reason why the four of them had stared was due to the changes in Tukson's appearance; the man had shaved off his sideburns, dyed his hair a rather light brown and slicked it back, wore glasses and a dress shirt and jeans. He'd even filed his nails a bit so that they were no longer claw-like but more akin to a precise manicure.

Any one of these changes would've been noticeable, but when combined, it had taken Blake and her friends a long moment to even recognize him.

Which was the point, she'd realized.

"Trying to stay unnoticed, still?" Ruby ended up asking.

Tukson nodded. "That's right. Though things may seem like they're calming down a bit-,"

"Say that to all the looters," Yang grumbled.

"-It's better to be safe than sorry. Sure, it's doubtful there's any White Fang in Vale, but only for the moment. Just because the Breach didn't really have the effect they were going for doesn't mean they'll just throw in the towel. Especially not with Adam leading the efforts," Tukson explained. "Plus, since they've apparently started to work with those humans that came for me, there's no telling who else they might be having looking for people like me. Hence, the disguise."

"But there's been no attempt on your life since then, yes?" Weiss spoke. "So doesn't this seem a bit much?"

Tukson shrugged. "I've noticed, but better to be safe than sorry. While Adam and Sienna likely have too much going on to really focus on hunting down deserters, if their people do find any, they will go out of their way to deal with them. And the very fact anyone had been sent after me in the first place may mean this 'policy' of the White Fang's might have changed."

"But what about your store? Wouldn't your regulars be pretty thrown off by these changes?" Blake decided to bring up.

"Ah, yeah that… I decided to close down the store indefinitely," the man responded before taking a bit out of the enormous hamburger he'd ordered. He must have been hungry recently. After putting it back down and wiping his mouth, he continued. "Now before you four look at me like I'm a paranoiac, let me explain – and this explanation is why I'd wanted to meet with you tonight anyways."

Team RWBY tensed up. And here they'd thought they were the ones who'd wanted to check in on Tukson. Looks like he'd wanted to meet with them too for an actual reason. Though certainly convenient, it was worrisome – no way that whatever he wanted to say would be something mundane.

"I've still been monitoring the White Fang's channels, still been keeping in contact with my sources," he began. "And needless to say, the Breach is pretty much all that everyone's even talking about… and from the sounds of it, it seems like not many were in the know about what Adam and his cell had been up to. In fact, it seemed like outside of those he seemed to be getting his supplies from, no one saw this coming at all."

"Wait, so he was keeping this plan of his a secret from the rest of the bunch? Why would he do that?" Yang asked.

As for Blake, she'd barely been able to even focus on what her partner had said. Instead, at the mere mention of Adam's name, she'd sort of started to drift away mentally, to memories from long ago.

Adam had been one of the first friends she'd ever made growing up and together the two of them along with others their age had thrown their lot in for equality between humans and Faunus. And when it'd started to become necessary to arm and train themselves to ward off violent attacks, Adam had been the first to do so, even going as far as to train others in order to ensure their own survival. She'd been one of the ones he'd trained and it'd been around this time that the White Fang's leadership was ceded to Sienna, who began its radicalization.

And from there, the two of them had been all but inseparable, friends who were now mentor and student of a sort, working together in bringing about equality for all Faunus… through violence. Through theft and threats and sabotage. But when she'd begun to see the error of her ways and started to doubt the White Fang's goals and effectiveness, she'd been unable to voice these concerns to Adam… and when she finally couldn't stand it anymore, she'd just opted to leave him behind rather than even try to talk things out.

Seeing him during the events of the Breach had thrown her off guard – and that was putting things far too lightly – and if not for the quick actions of Yang and Winter Schnee's forces, she probably would've been struck down by her former brothers and sisters in arms. She hadn't exactly been able to say anything to him, but he'd certainly noticed her trying to stop the train alongside her friends.

Just what had he thought in that moment he'd seen her, she wondered? She honestly couldn't begin to guess.

"The only answer coming to mind," Tukson began, grabbing Blake's attention as he answered Yang's question. "Is that it seems like Adam has started to diverge from Sienna's own goals and methods. And that's a bad thing – predicting what the White Fang would do before was easy since it was usually the same old thing over and over again. But if Adam is starting to break away and do his own thing, it becomes much harder to figure out what he may do next. He's always been a stubborn guy, so it wouldn't surprise me if he'll try again and again to bring Vale down to make some kind of statement… but now the question is how he'll do that."

Blake closed her eyes and sighed. Tukson was right. Adam was a truly stubborn man. In fact, it'd been his stubbornness that she'd initially mistook for firm resolve so long ago that had charmed her and others so much, had made it so hard to realize back then the monster he'd already slowly been becoming.

…She understood that to achieve certain goals could sometimes mean wielding violence, but Adam's growing lack of care towards collateral damage and casualties had started to bother her more and more…. In hindsight, perhaps this is why she hadn't bothered trying to talk things out with him – he'd already become too different a person to be successfully reasoned with.

"He's right," she whispered towards her team. "Adam had always been far too bullheaded. No way he'd just leave Vale be now after one failed attempt. And the fact that his methods are already significantly different from usual means he may now start using different methods to achieve whatever new goal he has in mind."

"…Seriously?" Yang asked her, concerned.

Blake nodded. "Before, he mainly stuck to straightforward tactics, launching strike teams at certain targets or even conducting large-scale raids, both of which could be planned quickly and executed so long as they have building plans to work with. He's never been one for more subtle things. The prepping of that train alone, to say nothing of all the Dust that would've had to be gathered to make bombs out of, would've taken months, a length of time he would've found completely intolerable back then. He's changing… and not for the better."

There was a long moment of tense silence.

"So…" Ruby began a little nervously, but with genuine resolve in her silver eyes. No matter what would come their way, the young leader looked ready to take it on. "Any idea what he might try to do next? Any idea at all?"

Blake eyed her leader before sharing a look with Tukson. Then the two Faunus looked back at Ruby. "Honestly, I can't say. For sure, whatever new target he has in mind will have a big impact in some way."

"Well, he can't get a bigger one than Vale itself," Yang said as she folded her arms over her chest. "Well, I mean I guess he could try and target another kingdom too, but I'm pretty sure that's a bit beyond his weight class… right?"

"Way beyond," Tukson immediately answered. "But it's not like he needs to outright destroy Vale to make a statement. So long as he's able to get the message 'don't underestimate me and the White Fang' across to everyone, then it doesn't matter if he tries causing another Breach or do something else – it just has to be something that'd grab everyone's attention."

"Uhm, but you said too that the rest of the White Fang didn't even know what he was up to," Ruby pointed out. "So, can't they just.. boot him out of the group or something?"

"It's… not quite that easy, Ruby," Blake responded a little weakly. "Technically, yes, they can and should do so… but another one of the reasons why I left them is because too many of them were starting to be a lot like how Adam now is. If they were able to, they'd waste no time subjugating all of humanity. And while the majority of the White Fang are still technical pacifists – those who view violence as a mere means to an end – they can probably be persuaded to follow the likes of Adam if given substantial reason."

"B-But then, what about that other person you mentioned?"

"Sienna Khan," Weiss suddenly spoke up. "…You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but after reflecting on things, I can almost respect her. She's done my family and the SDC in general much harm thanks to her leadership… but her leadership in and of itself is almost admirable if viewed from a business perspective. If she wasn't a Faunus, I could actually imagine my father liking her way of doing things. But yes, Ruby does make a point, Blake – is there anything she can do about Adam Taurus? I imagine she wouldn't take kindly to him doing things his own way like this."

"She wouldn't, not one bit," Blake immediately replied, remembering the tiger Faunus all too well. Again, she wasn't someone whose methods she agreed with anymore, but the woman had always been one of honor and integrity. While describing her as ruthless wouldn't be entirely wrong, even she had lines she wouldn't even entertain the idea of crossing. Though easily angered at times, she knew how to rein in her temper and see the bigger picture.

Unfortunately…

"But, she's expanded the White Fang greatly since assuming leadership. Calling it an actual organization wouldn't be wrong nor an understatement… and with that comes all the same problems that bog down organizations," Blake continued almost tiredly.

"Supplies and logistics," Tukson immediately chipped in, looking rather tired himself now, even as he kept on eating his monster burger. "And with that comes documentation and a hell of a lot of delegation… and I think you can imagine what kind of problems can happen with those two things."

"Seriously?" Yang was legitimately shocked. "You're telling me even they screw up things like that?"

"Yang, did you seriously think we relied on memorizing everything?" Blake rhetorically asked in a flat tone. "Did you think we play some extended version of the telephone game?"

"…Right, my bad." The blonde had the decency to look embarrassed.

Ruby laughed a little at her sister while Weiss visible fought back a smirk. Wasn't too often the Y of their team said something dumb but amusing like that.

"Well, that aside," Weiss said, referring to said comment. "You mean to say that it will be a while before Sienna even hears of what happened and respond accordingly?"

Tukson nodded. "Exactly. And if Adam really is going off the rails like we think he is, then I doubt there's much she could do to rein him in, outside of sending others to forcibly bring him in… and there's no way Adam would go down quietly."

"In-fighting is the last thing the White Fang needs right now after the Breach. With word spreading so quickly about their involvement in it, a lot of people are now in an uproar. If they wish to keep whatever power they do have, then dividing up their own forces for anything is the absolute last thing they should be doing," Blake added. "There's no doubt Sienna will take issue with what Adam's done, but until she can figure out a way to somehow deal with him quickly and quietly, she's likely not going to do anything."

"So, we're pretty much in the same position we were in to start with, huh?" Yang asked.

"Seems that way," Tukson said. "Of course, like before I'll keep monitoring things, see what else I can find out. But try not to get your hopes up; after the Breach, it seems like Adam's cell is catching on to things, so they've gotten harder to track and monitor. I'll do what I can to stay on top of things, but it's already looking less and less promising."

Blake narrowed her eyes and her hands balled into fists. She would like to think she's come a long way from how she was before, when she was left so disillusioned by the White Fang and humanity alike. She had friends now, good friends that happened to human and she's learned to not hide her cat ears and she's never felt so liberated before… but at the same time, she'd merely run from the White Fang, having not really bothered to do anything about it.

It'd been her father who'd formed the White Fang to begin with. And while she wouldn't dare claim it was her birthright or anything stupid like that, she still felt like she had a responsibility towards it still. To now see firsthand how her former friend was tarnishing it… now that she was really coming to terms with Adam and his forces having played a large role in causing the Breach, the B of team RWBY was feeling angry.

She didn't why Adam had changed like this or if there were others he'd been working with to set up this Breach – given the scale of things, this was extremely likely – but as his former friend and comrade, she could no longer sit back and just wait for him to launch his next move.

She needed to be much more proactive.

Now was as good a time as any to start.

"Any idea on what we could be doing?" she asked Tukson just as he finished his hamburger. Beside her, her friends were looking just as eager to find out what they could do about this new development. It filled her with joy and pride.

"Hard to say, really," he responded. "Again, not like I have much to work with just yet. But if I do find any leads, think I can entrust you four with looking into them? I'm only one guy after all."

"Of course!" Ruby cheerfully and eagerly exclaimed. "We'll do whatever we can to stop this!"

Her enthusiasm got a smile out of Tukson. "Glad to hear. Other than that, all I can think of is just to stay ready. Whatever attack he's cooking up now won't be coming anytime soon, but it never hurts to be on the lookout for anything odd. But if you do find anything on your own, just get back in contact with me and I'll trying digging into things, see if it's legit. Sound good?"

"Heh, can't say playing Sherlock and Holmes doesn't sound cool," Yang commented.

That got a laugh or two out of them all – it certainly beat her lame puns by a mile in terms of comedic value.

But truly, Blake was thankful to have found friends in her team who were just so ready to jump into things like this; they hadn't even hesitated to respond to Tukson's requests.

Having now hashed out what should generally be done, team RWBY finally got around to ordering some food to eat and together with Tukson, who'd ordered a dessert for himself, the five of them sat there and ate a late dinner amid now pleasant conversation.

Blake prayed that times such as this would last a long time once this was all over.

* * *

Tyrian Callows was many, many things. So many things that not even the man himself knew the half of it all.

But one thing he did know about himself was that he was, if nothing else, competent at what he did – that is, tracking and fighting.

And of course, killing.

Oh, he knew that Hazel had him outdone in those last two things, but still, he was a decent second. But tracking? He was second to none.

Alas, his current prey was a flighty little thing and Mistral truly was a vast land to roam. However, over the past week or so, he's made significant progress in searching for one Raven Branwen and her tribe. It'd been a simple enough matter of looking for villages and towns that have either been raided or will be raided soon enough. It'd really only been the sheer size of the continent combined with how spread out the villages and towns were that had made his mission so very dull.

He didn't dare to even complain aloud, however, for he was doing this in the name of his goddess. She'd given him the all too important task of locating the Spring Maiden and the mere idea of failing the goddess was a thought he couldn't even bring himself to entertain in the slightest.

"Hmm, I suppose I should hurry then," he murmured to himself with a malicious smirk, instead finding some delight in pleasing his goddess… after, of course, making Raven and her tribe thoroughly suffer for the undue trouble they've caused him.

Picking up his pace a bit, he eventually reached a small settlement out in a more open region and immediately made his way for the bar. Bars, as seedy and pathetic as they can be, were often great sources of information. And seeing as all he really needed was just confirmation as to what's been going on with the surrounding settlements, obtaining what he desired should be a simple and quick affair.

The very thought that this settlement would perhaps be the bandit tribe's next target or was somehow in the tribe's way never once entered Tyrian's mind. It was just too small a place to offer much in the ways of supplies and sustenance to the tribe and the scorpion Faunus highly doubted the bandit tribe were petty and sadistic enough to raze such small places like this for fun.

Now, as for himself, well…

Ah, but he was digressing. Time to get back to the topic on hand.

The bar was really more of a tavern due to the design of both its exterior and interior, but he was able to spot a fair number of rabble acting just like others always do at such establishments – getting plastered and acting out. It was almost enough to make him sneer; compared to the goddess, everything and everyone else were just so hideous and pathetic, but drunkards and other such scum were particularly low in his eyes.

Nonetheless, Tyrian kept himself from losing his smirk by dwelling on happier thoughts – oh, how wonderful it'd be to stab his stinger right in between someone's ribs – and merely made his way towards the counter-.

-Only to pause ever so slightly in his tracks upon looking upwards.

This tavern had a second floor that overlooked his current spot and he could see what appeared to be the tavern's sole waitress carry her tray up to one of the very few customers he could spot up there.

There was no mistaking it – that man now briefly flirting with the waitress was Qrow Branwen.

"Oho?" Tyrian moved several feet to the right and then forward a bit more, making it seem like he was going to take a seat at an empty table.

And sit, he did, but he didn't intend to do so for long. Indeed, he was merely taking a minute or two to figure things out.

He and his colleagues were well aware of their goddess' mortal enemy, the dreadful Ozpin. They were well aware as to who served as that man's pawns… and the twin brother of Raven Branwen was perhaps Ozpin's most favored pawn.

Could it be…? Was Qrow Branwen also searching for his sister? This was quite a surprise; the last time they'd ever tried tracking the movements of Ozpin's pawns, Qrow had been sent somewhere into the Grimmlands, though his exact location had been unknown. There was no way he'd be here in Mistral now unless there was a good reason for it. And seeking out his former tribe and subsequently the Spring Maiden was as good a reason as any could suspect.

In which case, this meant that the man was, for all intents and purposes, Tyrian's rival. Not that the man himself would even know that, but the idea of him having a rival… it rather pleased Tyrian, for it meant that it was perhaps a sign that his mission may finally give him that spark of excitement he'd been craving for a while.

Additionally, just what were the odds of both him and Qrow Branwen being in the same place at relatively the same time and looking for the same person too? Surely, this was a gift of sorts from the heavens, where his goddess reined from.

And if that man was here, then did it mean both were close to their goal? Given that both of them had had different starting points and times, that their search would coincide here and now of all places must surely mean they were closing in on the bandit tribe.

If this was indeed the case, then what luck indeed!

In one fell swoop, he could very well rid his goddess' faction of a potential irritant and obtain the Spring Maiden in just the potential span of a single day now!

But he was no fool – Qrow Branwen was one of the more notable huntsmen walking Remnant right now. He didn't doubt his chances, but even he knew better than to just assume victory from the start. He was strong, but he was hardly on Hazel's level, after all.

In which case… he should capitalize on this moment.

Qrow knew not his name nor his face. He had the element of surprise on his side. Not to mention the locale around him was the perfect spot to do this in – surely, the man wouldn't risk hurting any of these poor civilians, heh heh.

It would seem the poor town of Higanbana would be serving as the backdrop to his inevitable carnage, Tyrian noted with growing glee.

His tail slowly uncoiling itself from around his waist, he stood tall and almost seemed to stretch.

Then, he attacked.

* * *

 **So, as you can see, things are already going to be picking up a bit – JNPR will be pushing themselves to the limits via new missions, RWBY will be focusing on the White Fang even as Adam's cell prepares their next operation. And off in Mistral, Tyrian and Qrow are already about to fight!**

 **And don't you worry, there's still plenty more surprises coming up very soon within the story. God, I'd love to drop a few hints, but to even hint would be to risk spoiling, so I'm afraid that's a no go.**

 **But really, what's coming up will surely be plenty fun for you guys to read!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	28. Chapter 28

So, how many of you guys and gals have watched the Rise of Skywalker? What are your thoughts on it? Because I just saw it recently and I have to say I'm feeling pretty mixed about how it all played out. Personally, I find it neither good nor bad. It did get better towards the end, but even then that was a mixed bag.

However, had the movie been just a half hour longer, I think it could've been something truly good since it felt like they were getting from plot point A to plot point B and so on and so forth way too quickly for its own good.

So, again what are your thoughts on it all? I'm really interested to know.

Now, on another note, I've been keeping up with RWBY volume 7 via Murderofbirds' reaction vids. I have to say, it's still going strong, surprisingly to me. I do have some points of contention, but eh, that's nothing new when it concerns RWBY. Granted, there's always something to contest with anything, it's just a bit more noticeable with RWBY.

Anyways, getting off track there. In recent episodes, there's been a bit of info revealed that honestly lined up quite well with some stuff I'd already had planned regarding the backgrounds of certain characters. By no means is it a perfect alignment or anything, but it does give me a few ideas on how to better work it into this fic smoothly, so there's that! I hope that the results will pay off when I get to them.

With that said, let's not waste anymore time – onto the chapter!

Oh, and belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Chapter 28

As much as he likes to bitch about his semblance – and with damn good reason, he should add – Qrow was actually thankful for it to an extent.

The thing about everything being able to go wrong at literally any instant around him meant he's had to really train his reflexes to make sure he would be able to respond just as quickly to the change. And he's had a lifetime of practice.

Thus, when his attempts to flirt with the cute waitress – successfully at that too, he wanted to stress – were suddenly interrupted by someone leaping from the lower floor up here, swinging some dangerous looking blades at him, Qrow was able to respond on pure instinct.

In one swift motion, the scythe user shoved the waitress to the side while simultaneously kicking his table right at the attacker. The table slammed into the attacker with a heavy thud, but not because it had actually struck the man but rather the guy had suddenly spun around at the last second and landed feet first on it.

The man, tall and lean and with one hell of a crazy expression on his face, kicked off the table and landed on the wall across the ways, hanging a dozen or so feet above the bar's entrance. Rather than try and leap again, the man laughed in delight before just raising his right arm – where two barrels popped out from underneath the straps that held his circular blades in place.

"Go! Evacuate!" Qrow yelled in urgency, not just at the waitress but at everyone in the bar in general as he drew his blade to deflect the initial burst of gunfire.

The man cackled and simply switched targets, which got a curse muttered out of Qrow who quickly dashed towards the now fleeing waitress to swat aside the bullets that would've struck her otherwise. After deflecting more than a dozen shots, Qrow immediately activate his weapon's gun function and fired two shots at the man.

But the man now jumped high and landed on the second floor's ledge, which then suddenly broke under his weight. The man, tall as he was, was lightly built and thus there's no way his weight could've caused that to happen. It'd instead been the result of Qrow's semblance which he tried to capitalize on by firing several more times.

However, the man recovered with grace, rolling forward in such a way that the tail ends of his brown coat flapped about, obscuring parts of his body. The only thing Qrow's shots accomplished was blasting off entire parts of the ledge and the flooring near it.

The man licked his lips upon landing and blitzed towards Qrow, smashing aside all the other tables up here that were in between the two of them, obscuring Qrow's view even further.

But Qrow didn't let this stop him. The guy was undoubtedly going to try and just slice through the table just to get to him. He wasn't about to let that happen. He took one smooth step forward and swung his blade down, cleanly slicing through the thick table and hearing a clang as his weapon ended up clashing with the man's.

Only for it to turn out that the man had in turn seen his action coming for he'd already been pivoting, Qrow's sword only cutting into the edge of the man's blades on his left arm.

The man swung his right arm towards Qrow's neck and if not for his reflexes kicking in instinctively at that instant to dodge, Qrow was sure that he would've died right then and there. Aura can only do so much to protect vital spots from actual injury, after all.

His assailant was undeterred though and just kept on spinning about, taking advantage of his lanky frame and small weapons to launch a seemingly endless stream of attacks in rapid succession.

"Shit, you're a quick bastard…" Qrow mumbled as he dodged back, freeing up just enough space each time to make use of his large blade. Unfortunately, the waitress was still scrambling away from all this. It's not that she froze up or anything, it's just that compared to even huntsmen trainees, civilians might as well be moving in slow motion. With this in mind, he couldn't let himself get pushed back any further.

Deflecting yet another blow with the portion of his blade that hung just a bit past where it was connected to the hilt, Qrow grunted in exertion as he suddenly barreled forward into the attacker, just as the man had been about to pivot around to his other side. This resulted in the man, caught off guard, being forced to block his sword with both of his own weapons.

In terms of pure brute strength, Qrow felt they were pretty much equal, but he had the advantage of having a larger and heavier weapon plus some leverage. Thus, he was able to quickly force the guy's knees to buckle just a little bit and for the guy's crazed expression to now be replaced with one of genuine effort.

"Not so fun once you're on the losing end, huh?" Qrow quipped with a bit of a smirk before trying to kick in the side of the guy's left knee to bring him down – only for the guy to then return the smirk with one of his own before kicking out with his right foot right into Qrow's crotch.

The huntsman let out a less than manly wheeze at that and felt his strength buckle for a split second, which was more than enough time for the guy to push him back hard and land a cut on his left shoulder. Thankfully, the attack had been a light one and his aura had stayed strong in the face of it, thus he suffered no injury.

Still, it hurt like a bitch for it had slightly struck his collarbone and it had only added to the pain of being kicked in the family jewels. He was still able to get in the literal swing of things, however, for the man backed off and opened fire again, which Qrow raised his blade to guard against while trying to close the growing gap between them.

He suddenly started to spin around several times rapidly, building up a lot of momentum that he then put to use by leaping and swinging his blade down, hoping to catch the man's side. Instead, the man dodged and Qrow's attacked ended up cutting into the flooring… and in turn bringing down the entire second floor.

Damned semblance. He hadn't even swung widely enough for that to happen!

In any case, the floor fell apart and they both lost their footing, the obvious result of such an action. This still didn't stop the attacker from kicking off a large piece of falling debris fast enough to land a cut along Qrow's side. However, in Qrow in turn had been able to smash the butt of his weapon's hilt into the man's back, sending him careening in mid-jump.

The two of them ended up crashing into the first floor hard and all the rubble falling all around and on top of them didn't exactly help. For added insult to injury, courtesy of his semblance, when he sliced through a piece of debris the size of his weapon, a much smaller piece of debris ended up slamming against the side of his head somehow.

For a split second, he saw stars due to the unexpectedness of this and that gave the attacker yet another chance to charge at him – only for him to trip over an equally small piece of debris that had landed in front of his feet, causing him to stumble wildly for a second.

Qrow allowed himself a small smile. At least his semblance didn't play favorites. He capitalized on this chance by slicing horizontally at the man's torso. The hit connected and clearly took off a solid chunk of the guy's aura in addition to sending him flying through the bar itself nearby. Thankfully, by now everyone had evacuated including that cute waitress, meaning he no longer had to worry much about civilian casualties.

Still… he couldn't let this fight drag on too much. Whoever this guy is, he's pretty damn good. Not many people he's met could so quickly adapt to the changes his semblance can bring about.

He was going to have to beat him down as quickly as possible.

Switching his weapon to its bully gun form, he took aim and fired at the man just as he started to get back up, infusing the shots with some aura. Thus, even though the man had blocked with both arms, the sheer force behind the shots ended up blowing him well through the wall and outside the bar itself.

Even as he went tumbling back, however, the man was still able to take aim and return fire, slowing Qrow's charge. Even so, Qrow persisted and simply stayed behind his large blade as much as he could to avoid being struck. Then, when it seemed like the distance between them had shrunk enough, he suddenly swung his blade upwards.

The man had dodged with a dark giggle, however, and landed a solid kick to Qrow's ribs that threw him off balance, only to then reach out with one hand to tug on his cape and pull him in for a slice with his free hand.

At this range, one would think using his sword to block would be impossible, but Qrow proved all these thinkers wrong by raising his sword's hilt up high enough to crash right into the man's blade, stopping the attack in place. Qrow then let go of his own weapon to grab the guy by the scruff of his coat and hold him in place long enough to land a solid punch to the armpit of the attacking arm.

The man let out a cry at that but didn't slow down enough for Qrow to follow up with another attack. Rather than try to give chase again, however, Qrow just picked up his weapon and held it defensively as he glared at the man, who was also just standing where he now was.

"Alright, pal. What gives? I owe you money or something? Can't say this would be the first time someone's gone this far to make me cough up however much lien I owe." This was all just a joke, of course. There were plenty of people out there that had no trouble picking fights with huntsmen, but this didn't feel like that was the case.

Sure enough, the man cackled as if he'd just heard a really dumb joke. "Money? Oh come now, surely you're not trying to tell a joke that poor… Qrow Branwen."

Qrow narrowed his eyes. So, this guy knew of him. Okay then, so that rules out quite a few possibilities… that said, why did this guy also look a little familiar? He sure doesn't recall ever meeting him before; he'd remember meeting someone that looks this nuts.

"If you don't want to hear poor jokes, then help me out a little here – just who are you? Why start a fight?" Qrow questioned as he now slowly began to move away from the bar. Additionally, he started to try and stretch out his senses; there was no way to know just yet if this guy was alone or not.

"My name is Tyrian," the man introduced himself with a surprisingly smooth bow, the gentlemanly action contrasting with his obvious craziness. Sure enough, as if to prove how big a contrast there was here, the man then grinned sinisterly. "And as for my purpose, why, is it not a basic tactic to remove the opposing side's pawns?"

At that, Qrow quietly hissed. The whole chess motif thing has often been used for many things… but in his personal experience, it's always been used to describe the hidden war that he was a part of.

The war against the queen, Salem.

"So… you're one of hers, huh…?" he murmured. "…You're here for Raven, aren't you?"

"Indeed," Tyrian – shit, Qrow suddenly realized, wasn't he a serial killer that Atlas had caught years back? – admitted. "Her grace has bequeathed unto me the task of retrieving the Spring Maiden. Your former tribe, now headed by that sister of yours, seems like the only bunch the young Maiden could have possibly ran off to all those years ago. And now the time has come to bring her back in."

"Oddly nice of you to tell me all that," Qrow quipped, preparing to attack now. Now that he knew for sure this guy was working for Salem, he definitely couldn't let him run off.

Tyrian chuckled. "Again, it should've been clear to you from the start that this was no simple ambush. As much of a lush as you are, you're the pathetic wizard's right-hand pawn for a reason." The man now assumed a crouched stance, arms hanging loosely at his side, ready to attack. "Now, I believe we've wasted enough time talking, yes? It's not as if you knowing my purpose or name will make a difference, after all, heh!"

Qrow grimaced in respond to Tyrian's arrogance. "Bring it, you-."

Tyrian pounced before Qrow could even finish his comeback. How rude. But the huntsman had seen it coming and thus wasn't caught off guard, swinging his blade just as he pounced, swatting him away as if he were a really large fly.

But Tyrian gracefully flipped back and landed on his feet before rushing in for yet another attack. He crouched a little low and threw a punch, but thanks to the blades attached to his wrist, the attack was obviously a lot more dangerous than just a simple punch.

Qrow deflected it with the side of his sword – only for a scorpion tail to suddenly spring forth from under Tyrian's coat and wrapped itself around his wrist. It squeezed hard enough to make him involuntarily loosen his grip on his blade, the appendage pressing down on the nerves there. Then it just as quickly uncoiled itself and snatched his blade out of his hand and flung it far behind Tyrian.

"Damn it!" Qrow muttered as Tyrian then went in for a stab with his tail. He'd forgotten that it'd been mentioned the man was a Faunus in the report done on him. He dodged to the side to avoid the stinger, but Tyrian's tail proved remarkably dexterous and it practically followed after him, forcing him to leap back a few extra feet to really avoid being stung.

Tyrian took this in stride though and simply took several smooth steps forward, swinging his blades in conjunction with his tail lashing out. Combined with how fast he is, Qrow ended up unable to dodge every strike and had to settle for using the back of his own hands to deflect the blades, reinforcing said limbs with aura so that they didn't get too harmed from the continuous blocking. Just about the only thing he made a point to dodge at all costs was the tail; no telling what kind of lethal venom was in that sucker.

Tyrian cackled like a loon as he saw him struggle and Qrow so very badly wanted to punch his teeth out. Instead though, the huntsman leapt back and Tyrian followed, lashing out with his stinger. Qrow smirked as he twisted to the right and watched as his enemy's stinger ended up impaling a tree – and would you look at that? The stinger got stuck.

"Hmm?!" Tyrian now gritted his teeth as he tried to free his appendage, which he did do after a mighty tug, but not in time for Qrow to punish him for his lapse in concentration. Qrow went up and punched the crazy bastard right in the side of the jaw, then followed it up with an uppercut that sent the guy flying.

While airborne, Qrow made a dash for his sword and made it in just the nick of time – Tyrian had latched his flexible stinger around the thick branch of a tree nearby to halt his flight. Not only that, but the man had used the momentum to throw himself right at Qrow, who managed to get his sword up to block the incoming lunge. Even then, the force of the lunge lifted him right off his feet and the two of them went sailing through the building near the bar, smashing all the way through it. Thankfully, the commotion they'd made at the bar had attracted a lot of attention, for this place – a shop of some kind – had been deserted by the time they ended up bringing it down.

Tyrian leapt off him as the building they smashed through collapsed and Qrow took a short swing at him as he did so, hoping to strike him. He missed by an inch at most but proceeded to simply switch to his weapon's gun form and open fire again, this time without enhancing his shots with aura.

However, Tyrian this time used aura to enhance to his own firepower and his paltry little rounds thus ended up colliding with and piercing right through the much heavier rounds Qrow uses. The huntsman thus had no choice to but to swat these bullets aside himself.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face after doing so, not from exhaustion but from nerves. He could keep this up for the next hour or so and it was clear that so can Tyrian. However, if this does keep on going, the rest of this little town is going to be put at serious risk. He could try and lead the man away from the town itself, but Tyrian was a well-known psychopath. And yeah, sure, that words gets thrown around a lot, but it just matched the crazed Faunus all too well – he's kidnapped, tortured, and killed plenty of people in the past and all for no other reason than sheer bloodthirst and a severe lack of self-control and empathy. If he left him alone for even a minute, there was just no telling what the man may try.

And judging by the truly smug grin on the Faunus' face, it seemed that Tyrian was well aware of this too. "What ever will you do, Branwen?" he mocked. "Now that we've come this far, there's no reason for either of us to simply stop. And if you even think of trying to take this elsewhere, why, I've no reason to follow. Killing you would surely please her grace, but you now know that's not my main goal."

"Fair enough…" Qrow found himself muttering. "But can you really think 'your grace' is gonna be happy with you raising such a fuss here? Isn't her whole thing operating from the shadows and all that?"

"We were going to make ourselves known sooner or later," Tyrian admitted with a shrug. "But… I suppose you've a point."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow. Did he really just get a lunatic like Tyrian to agree to something? Maybe his semblance wasn't just a bad luck generator, after al-.

"So," Tyrian continued, his yellow eyes now turning a dangerous purple as he readied his stinger. "I'll just have to end this quickly."

His stinger was raised high, ready to strike. But with the distance between them, unless he was about to do a running leap, there was no way it was going to hit him. So just why was it raised so high like that, Qrow wondered?

Then to his surprise, the stinger started to slowly and rather dramatically inch towards Tyrian himself-.

Only for the man to suddenly draw his stinger back and for him to also leap out of the way when a wave of veritable flames nearly cut into him.

Tyrian ended up landing on top of a pole nearby and he glared at a spot near his previous position. A position where a woman now emerged from a portal that definitely hadn't been there before.

Qrow's feelings upon seeing the woman in all too familiar garb were quite mixed to say the least. Nonetheless, he greeted the newcomer.

"Raven," he drawled out, though inwardly thankful for the save. "Took your sweet time to back up your dear bro here."

Though his twin was wearing that annoying Grimm mask of hers, he could practically see her rolling her eyes underneath it. "As if you really needed it."

Shit, did Raven just compliment him? The world must be turning upside down right now.

"Oooohhh~" Tyrian let out a long little sound as he recognized Raven. "My, my. I didn't expect to attract my prey to me like this."

"Prey? I think you got that backwards," Raven retorted as she sheathed her blade in that nifty Dust scabbard of hers, switching out the fire blade for a different one. "You're strong. I can tell… but do you really think you can take both of us?"

Tyrian's eyes, still purple, narrowed dangerously. However, that the man didn't have an immediate reply ready was telling to what he seemed to be thinking. Sure enough, the man let out a thoughtful hum before leaping away to a different rooftop and then to another rooftop from there on.

He was retreating.

"Coward," Raven all but spat as she slowly released her grip on her sword's hilt.

Qrow sighed as he slowly sheathed his own weapon. "Still going on about that whole 'survival of the fittest' thing, huh? You can't tell that he's just going to try again later?"

There's no way that the two of them scared off Tyrian. Even ignoring his bloodthirst, the guy is under Salem's control. No way he could afford to just run with his tail between his legs.

"And he can try to track us down and fight all he wants – he'll just be coming to his death," Raven replied as she took off her mask. "So, what brings you out here near my neck of the woods."

Her neck of the woods, eh? Looks like he'd been right – Higanbana here had been pretty close to where the tribe was currently set up at, close enough that the sounds of battle just now had carried out far enough for her to be alerted to it. That meant that this place would've been the tribe's very next target if he and Tyrian hadn't just fought it out…

Maybe that bastard attacking him actually had been a good thing in hindsight – if nothing else, with the whole town now on high alert, raiding it wouldn't be as easy a thing for the tribe to do, even when no accounting for how strong Raven is.

"Well, to answer that question," Qrow began neutrally, only to pause when he heard people cautiously yet loudly approaching the ruined bar and shop. Realizing that if he didn't leave right now that he might end up being stuck paying for all the damage done – something that's happened to him more times than he'd like to count – the huntsman turned to his twin with just a tiny bit of panic in his eyes. "How about I answer that somewhere else? Literally anywhere else."

Raven stared at him flatly. "You really never do change, Qrow," she quipped. Nonetheless, she opened up a portal – presumably back to her base – and motioned for him to follow after her.

Qrow will deny scampering after her like the devil was on his heels.

At least he'd managed to complete the first part of his objective, he silently noted as he entered the portal. Now to just hope and see he could talk Raven into this.

* * *

"No." That was the only word Raven could bring herself to say as soon as her brother had asked her about the Spring Maiden.

The look on Qrow's face in response to her one-word answer would've been priceless if under different circumstances.

"Raven, did you not just hear a single word I said?" he asked.

The two of them had returned to back to base – well, her base, that is. Currently, they were within her tent while the rest of her tribe lingered around outside. Aside from herself and Qrow was her most trusted subordinate, Vernal.

And said subordinate was glaring harshly at her brother. "Oh screw off, you punk," Vernal said. "You're the one who doesn't seem to understand what the situation is."

Qrow glanced at Vernal, utterly unimpressed. "I can't believe you actually told this shrimp about Salem…" he said before sighing.

Vernal bristled but managed to keep cool for the most part.

As for Raven herself, the woman just snorted. "Unlike Ozpin, I at least like to make sure some of my closer subordinates are more aware of the world's circumstances. And besides… them knowing doesn't change the fact that we're remaining neutral in this ridiculous war of theirs."

"I can tell," Qrow quipped. "But while having you join us again would be nice and all, I'm really just here for the Spring Maiden. Come on, Raven. At least let me speak to the girl."

"So you can try and miserably sweet talk her into risking her life again? Again, the answer is no," Raven retorted. "I know you don't care much for the tribe anymore, but at least with us, she's learned to become strong and independent… unlike you and how you've been so whipped into being Ozpin's lapdog."

This was partially a lie – what she was saying about the Spring Maiden, that is. Sadly, the poor girl had been unsuited for fighting and killing in general… and her power as a Maiden, which only invited battle, had been wearing down her very body and soul. While Raven herself had rather pitied the girl, she hadn't let said pity stop her from ultimately doing what was needed to further protect her tribe.

Alas, she couldn't let Qrow and by extension Ozpin and his inner circle find out about that. While she hardly feared their judgement, having them potentially try and take the new Spring Maiden by force is not something she could afford. Sure, Vernal here was to serve as her stand-in as said Maiden, but if push came to shove, Qrow and the others would see through that ruse all quickly.

Now, without said Maiden power, she and her brother were equals in prowess. With said power, she naturally held the advantage. But to blow her cover and use it would be like sending out a Beacon to less than savory people like Salem to come and attack and that she couldn't risk.

Thus, she had to keep up the ruse that the girl was still alive and merely being kept hidden by the tribe.

"That's rich coming from you," Qrow immediately responded. "You upped and ran not only from the fight against Salem, but from Tai and Yang too. For someone so strong in body, your spirit is weak as shit, sis."

Raven felt her own eyes narrow dangerously. Beside her, Vernal looked ready to pounce. However, after a few seconds, Raven took a breath and motioned for Vernal to settle down. "I fled because I could no longer see the point in fighting. Salem and Ozpin have been carrying out this secret war for who knows how many centuries. You really think that this battle between them can be finished within our own lifetimes, Qrow? And as for Tai and Yang… that's none of your business."

"I'm nowhere near a big enough optimist to say we can win this war," Qrow responded as he folded his arms over his chest. "But you know something? As much as I may hate this tribe now, if there's one thing it's taught me that I've always abided by, it's to not go down without a fight. Honestly, I don't expect to see Salem die or whatever within the next decade or however long it'll take. But after growing up among thieves and killers, having something genuinely worth fighting for isn't something I'm going to just throw away now. And as for Tai and Yang, they're family, so damn right it's my business."

Then, Qrow sighed again, looking just a little tired. "…But now's not the time to be talking shit about each other," he murmured after a long minute. "Raven, at least try to consider things from a new point of view. Think of it this way – if Salem does achieve whatever her goals are, you really think you and the tribe are going to be allowed to keep on living as you do right now? Now, yeah, it's not as if she's going to immediately smoke you guys out and make you into kebab for the Grimm to have, but if she does win, it's going to happen eventually."

"And should that day come, we'll give it all we've got," Raven answered. "Like you just said, we're not going to die without a fight."

"Okay… fine. But do you really think you and little miss gung-ho here are going to last that long against her forces if it came to that? Do you think that she'll just let you go down on your own terms? And again, you really think you can speak for the girl?" Qrow asked one question after another rapidly.

But Raven didn't falter. At least, not outwardly. He didn't know what she knew, she reasoned inwardly. And sure, she could enlighten him to the truth, but even then that wouldn't change the fact that Ozpin didn't tell Qrow in the first place showed just how insignificant a pawn he and the others were to that ancient man.

"And do you think serving under Ozpin is any better?" she asked in a quieter voice. "Salem may be bad, but he's just as bad too. He gave us two – just two bandits turned students at the time – his cursed magic and made us just start doing missions for him!"

"Missions that we _chose_ to do with magic that we _accepted_ in the first place," Qrow shot back now leaning forward in his seat. "Seriously, Raven?" He sounded to be in pure disbelief. "You make it sound like the ability to freely turn into birds and back to our original selves is a fucking blasphemy. And useful as it is, we've both seen semblances way crazier than that in action."

Raven's right eyebrow twitched. "Has he ever bothered telling you all that he's kept secret?"

Ah, that got a reaction out of him. It wasn't much, just a sudden quietness, but it was enough to make her feel a little better about all this. "No, he hasn't," Qrow admitted. "But come on, don't act as if we now don't do the same."

"But for different reasons and very different scales, brother," Raven responded in a cold tone. "As far as I know, us two nor anyone else we've ever met quite have as many secrets nor secrets as big as the ones he has."

Qrow's own right eyebrow twitched and he said nothing in response.

And so, for a solid minute, the twins settled for just glaring at one another, neither one backing down.

Then, at the same exact same time, both of them huffed almost childishly and looked away.

"This is getting us nowhere," Raven said as she stood up. "I'm honestly feeling tired now, so if there's nothing else, I'll be turning in early for the night."

"If you're expecting me to just take a hike back to Vale, then you're officially more optimistic than me," Qrow said, remaining seated.

Raven grimaced. "Fine then," she started. "Stay the night if you want, try and bullshit me into giving into your demands tomorrow morning or whatever… but you'll have to see to your own sources of shelter and comfort until then."

Qrow finally stood, smirking just a little. "Alright. I'll do just that then. Heh, just you watch, Rae," he said, calling her the shortened name he'd sometimes call her as kids. "I'll be pestering you out of bed and over breakfast just like old times."

"And I'll make sure to smack you upside the head each and every time you open your mouth… just like old times," she retorted, the smallest of smirks on her own face.

Qrow let out a quiet chuckle and turned to leave her tent.

But just as he was about to exit…

"Hey," Raven called out, making him stop in his tracks. "…It's good to see again, brother."

"…You too, sis." And with that quiet reply, Qrow took his leave.

Raven remained standing in place, however, until she knew her brother was well away from her tent. Once she was certain of this, she let out a breath she hadn't quite realized she'd been holding.

"So what do we do?" Vernal asked, now looking a little concerned. "You think him sticking around will be a problem?"

Indeed, if Qrow does stick around for tomorrow, then the odds of him figuring out that the girl he came for was dead and buried would only increase, which would again lead to the risks she'd pondered to herself just moments ago.

"Unfortunately, just kicking him out ourselves will only raise suspicions," she told her subordinate/stand-in. "And it won't stop him from just tracking us down again at the next opportunity."

"Then…" Vernal started as she hefted up her weapons. "Should we… kill him?"

Raven shot her a blank expression before replying. "No. That would only eventually attract Ozpin's eyes once he realizes something has happened to him… and besides, even I'm not so cold-hearted as to kill my own brother."

Vernal nodded and put her weapons down. "Yeah, I kind of figured as much… but… and not to sound like a broken record here, just what do we do? I don't want to say your dick of a brother is right, but he did make some points about Salem."

Reluctant as she was to admit it, Raven had to agree. Regardless of what choice she'd made back then, the war against Salem would've gone on. And like her brother, she was hardly an optimist. There was no way to know if, had their choices been, they'd have made an actual difference.

And as for what he'd said about Tai and Yang…

Raven closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them.

"For now," she began. "Just leave him be. Tomorrow, we'll continue this little charade until it's time for us to pack up and move out. At that point, he'll have no choice but to head back – no way he can afford to pester us for that long, not when Ozpin will undoubtedly need him to do other things eventually."

Vernal raised an eyebrow. "Okay… sounds good. But what about Higanbana? We still plan to raid it?"

"No, we'll have to cancel that. After what just happened there, they'll be on high alert. I don't doubt that we can take the town without too much trouble, but Qrow will undoubtedly stick around as long as it'll take to make sure we don't go through with it. It's no longer worth the hassle."

Vernal sighs. "Well, that blows. Your bro has a real knack for taking the wind out of people's sails, doesn't he?"

Raven smiled a bit. "Vernal, that's his only notable trait too."

The two of them shared a laugh at Qrow's expense and proceeded to do so for the next several minutes.

* * *

The next day and elsewhere, Adam awoke early and alert. After swiftly changing into his usual outfit and adorning his infamous mask, he immediately made his way out of his personal tent and towards the command tent which was close by.

"What's the status on our new operation?" he immediately asked upon entering, having tasked several people with building up a certain profile to be utilized.

That being Blake's profile.

The girl had been on numerous missions during her time with the White Fang, both alongside him and with others and even by herself. After having made contact with those among the group that were more suited towards hacking and the like, he'd immediately had others go through the records they had on old missions and dig up the ones that Blake had been involved in.

The number of records was by no means a small amount and thus had taken a fair bit of time even with so many people working almost around the clock on it, but it'd proven quite rewarding as one by one, the team he'd put in charge of this endeavor would hold up a good sized stack of old mission reports that Blake had either written up herself or had been mentioned in.

Taking these stacks, he quickly sat down and started going through them, smirking in satisfaction upon seeing that all the parts about Blake's actions have been highlighted for his benefit.

Blake, skilled as she is, was hardly the most noteworthy or accomplished member of the White Fang, not by a long shot… but to the eyes of mere civilians, she would surely seem like a monster of some kind, much like how many humans out there already view Faunus. And combined with her father being the original founder of the White Fang, well… that certainly would paint a horrible image of her and Beacon for allowing her in.

At the thought of dragging a former friend's name through the mud, even if for a greater good in the end, Adam's smirk drooped into a frown. To also end up throwing Ghira's name under the bus was also putting a horrible taste in his mouth… but after the failed train operation, this was the only other thing they could do. After having come this far, it would only be a matter of time until Sienna hears of this and while she won't be able to outright shutdown his operations by force right off the bat, it will eventually happen in one form or another.

After everything he's done for Faunuskind and how much more must be done, he couldn't afford to let that happen. Thus, this in turn must be done.

"Mm, good. Excellent work," he said as he handed the folders back to one of the team members now standing before him. "You've the pictures as well?"

"Yes sir, we do," answered one of them, a woman with deer antlers. "We've old photos of Blake during our… our time just hanging out, enough to show her affiliation with us. And the undercover agents in Vale have managed to snap some pics of her too recently alongside that human team of hers…"

Adam nodded. "Then pour through all this and send the highlighted sections and the pictures to Vale's 'best reporter' – that Lisa Lavenders. And of course, make sure it's discreet. I don't want whatever electronic method is used to be tracked back to the White Fang in any way, understood?"

"Yes sir!" the woman said before snapping off a salute and taking her leave. The rest of the team followed suit for the most, save for one.

"Is this… sorry, sir, it's just… should we really be doing this?" the guy, young, probably around Blake's age, asked. Most of the others were quite eager to make the 'traitor' pay, but this one appeared to be one of the few not so willing to go through with this.

Understandable, really, it was. But Adam couldn't allow any form of dissent to fester. It was bad enough that he and his own forces were already essentially going rogue. To risk dissension among his own ranks would only lead to trouble later down the line if not addressed.

"…I don't wish to do this either," Adam began softly. "But it must be done. Blake may have once been a trusted friend and comrade, but she's made her opinion and choices quite clear by now. And our own options have long since been dwindling. If we don't deliver a message of some sort to Vale and the other kingdoms soon, then the White Fang will soon be viewed as a joke… and our goal of liberating our people will come to an end."

"…Sacrifices… sacrifices have to be made… don't they, sir?" the man asked, his hyena tail quivering slightly in response to his emotional state.

"Yes… yes, they do," Adam answered as he patted his shoulder. "At least with this… it can be said that Blake would have performed one final duty for the White Fang, if in a rather unique way. If nothing else, take solace in at least that much."

Indeed. For all intents and purpose, Adam was going to make Blake into a martyr of sorts, one with whose exposed past and eventual death would serve to show the kingdoms the might of the White Fang and the lengths they'll go to achieve what they want, be it liberation for Faunuskind… or dealing with 'traitors' to their cause.

The young man – no, boy, really – shakily nodded before excusing himself, leaving Adam to himself for the most part. And despite having gotten only minutes ago, the man ended up sighing and all but collapsing into the nearest chair.

It really did pain him to have to do this to a former comrade and friend of his, to say nothing of whatever repercussions there'd be for Ghira and Kali… but if nothing was done then nothing will ever get done.

…Well, at least when this gets done, presumably by tomorrow at the latest, Blake won't be able to just up and vanish her way out of this. She's done a lot of running her whole life but Adam highly doubted the girl would be able or willing to duck for cover from what was about to happen. And even if somehow whoever was clearly prying into their secrets managed to alert Blake of this in advance, well, it still wouldn't accomplish anything.

"So, just what will you do in response, Blake?" he muttered to himself as he leaned back in the chair a bit. "Will you finally stand your ground for good when we finally come for you?"

Blake was strong, of that there'd never been any doubt. But she was also far more uncertain and fragile than she'd probably ever admit to. After all, she had run away from them, abandoned the cause they'd all taken up…. and it wasn't as if they'd radicalized without knowing what the potential consequences would've been. So now the question is if Blake will end up breaking down from having her checkered past exposed… or if she'd find the strength needed to hold her head high.

Either way it wouldn't ultimately matter – the goal was to kill her at some point down the line anyways. But even then… as her former friend, Adam would probably be able to handle this just a bit more easily if Blake showed to him one final time the inner strength he knew she had.

…He'll have the answer to this question soon enough, he figured.

Until then, he could only bid his time and hone his blade even further. At the very least, he could grant her a quick death in the end.

* * *

Tyrian sat quietly and patiently within the particularly thick leaves a tree had on its branches. Having had to go on the run numerous times from authorities in his youth, he's become accustomed to surviving out in the wilds on little to nothing. Thus the rather misshapen branches he rested upon didn't bother him.

Not that he was even paying much attention to his current accommodations anyways – instead, he thought back to the encounter just earlier today.

His haphazard attack on Qrow Branwen had been a failure. However, said failure didn't bother him; he may not have been able to deprive that pathetic wizard of a pawn, but the fight had nonetheless proven to be a blessing in disguise. After all, it had drawn out Raven Branwen herself, who was for all intents and purposes his proxy target, given her association with the Spring Maiden.

That she'd shown up to her brother's aid meant that she must have been just near enough to hear the sounds of battle in the first place and deem it interesting enough to show up. This in turn meant that, unless she happened to be a habitual wanderer from her own unruly tribe, her base should be relatively nearby.

If he were to establish a large enough search area, then he should stumble across the bandit tribe's current location at some point. And that in turn meant the Spring Maiden was close by…

He laughed quietly at that thought. Indeed, he'd been most fortunate. He would even go as far as to call it a blessing from her grace herself.

It was decided then – he would continue his sweep until he found their base… and then, hold off on attacking it until some time tomorrow. While he was hardly tired from his fight with Qrow Branwen, he'd lost a fair amount of aura and so needed some time to fully recover it. And besides, as this was a holy mission given by the goddess herself, it wouldn't do to be at nothing but his very best for when he attacked the camp.

However, destroying the camp itself and slaying everyone there would be something he would have to give up on doing – as he currently is, combatting either Branwen would be within his ability to do. But to potentially fight both in addition to whatever riffraff try interfering? That would be impossible to do, especially if the Spring Maiden, no doubt more trained and experienced than when she was all those years ago, also got involved.

Of course, the tides could very much change should he be able to inject himself… but doing that made him a true berserker. Sadly, that won't do; he could end up killing the Maiden by accident and cause that damnable power to transfer to who knows who. The setback, while hardly that significant in the long run, would disappoint her grace and that was a thought that terrified him more than anything else.

So, yes, using his trump card was sadly not to be. Perhaps in the future, when it finally came time to step out into the limelight… but certainly not a moment before that.

Oh well. He's waited all this time as it is to truly cut loose. He could easily afford to wait just a little longer. The goddess has decreed it so and so he shall gladly obey.

"For you, my grace…" he muttered aloud, bowing his head lowly as he thought of her before finally leaping down from the tree.

And then, he began his search anew.

* * *

 **As you can see, this chapter focused on all the other major players involved… and as you can also see, things have already started to pick up a fair bit. Expect things to start getting just a bit crazy in the semi-near future. Hope you'll look forward to it!**

 **Also, regarding Raven, I'm going to try writing her as a semi-sane but mainly paranoid woman. But honestly, that's going to be hard to do. I want to try and keep her relatively close to canon in terms of personality… except her canon self is so paranoid and ultimately short-sighted, cowardly, and dumb (strictly my opinion) that trying to write her the same way here in this fic would feel like a huge disservice to myself and you guys. Thus, I'm going to tone down her more negative traits to manageable levels while still keeping the core of her character the same.**

 **Now, you might be wondering why I'm trying to keep her so similar to canon when this is fanfic and all, but that's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine – I don't mind characters being out of character within fanfiction… but only if said OOCness is explained, either because of a change to their own backstories or the backstory of the plot itself or even the entire setting itself. Like this version of Jaune, whose changes from his canon counterpart is due to the backstory I wrote for him so far.**

 **Anyways, that might seem like a random and even dumb explanation/excuse, but just thought I should make it known though. Hope you all don't mind.**

 **Whelp, other than that, not much else I think needs to get explained or otherwise elaborated on… so with that said, see you all with a new chapter in the new year!**

 **Until 2020, everyone. Take care and have a Happy New Year!**


	29. Chapter 29

Man, been getting more and more tired lately on the days that I work. Don't know if it's because my relative lack of sleep those nights leading up to work are catching up to me or if it's something else, but it's really been getting frustrating not having a concrete cause that could be addressed. But honestly, the most frustrating part of it is that it's been keeping me from writing as often as I'd like – some days, just finding the energy to turn on my laptop is hard, though once I do, going from there is easy enough.

Maybe I need a vacation…?

Ah well, in any case, don't mind my rambling here, just had to type it out. Hope you all have been well. Where I'm at, there's been a nasty little bug going on getting everyone sick. I've long since recovered from it when I'd gotten it, but maybe this is just a remnant of it… oh well, no way to truly know. Again, hope you all are holding up okay, not just from this possible bug but also from life in general.

Now then, let's just got on with the chapter, shall we? Expect things to start happening!

P.S. Any of you guys hear of a web novel called Avesta of Black and White? It's by the same guy who wrote the Dies Irae visual novel… and let me tell you guys something – I can't read Japanese, sadly, can only really read up the summaries left of the chapters as they come out… but seriously, this is one web novel that's batshit nuts! If you're able to, I would definitely recommend checking it out!

Chapter 29

"Hmm…" Jaune was somewhat befuddled on what to do and it must have shown through on his face for he could spot Pyrrha looking at him in slight concern out of the corner of his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as she put away her weapon.

"Not at all, just thinking," he answered honestly.

As discussed, he and his friends had taken to pushing their limits as much as possible in order to be ready for any future incidents. The intensity of their training had been upped considerably since then. Alas, the desire to go on more difficult missions had been one that's gone relatively unfulfilled; ever since the Breach, missions that required them to travel well past the walls of Vale had been oddly scarce. If Jaune had to guess why, he figured it was due to the council. Maybe they wanted as many huntsmen, professionals and trainees alike, to stay within Vale as a show of force against the criminal element that's been popping up since the chaos of the Breach.

If so, then it was a sound move, considering their presence has been doing wonders for the public's general state of mind. And besides, it was never really wrong to do some good for others.

Still though… it was already feeling to him as if their progress was off to a slow start.

"We're all clear over here, fearless leader!" Nora called out as she and Ren approached, looking none the worse for wear.

Jaune nodded and smiled a little. "Glad to hear. So, how exactly did things go? Did you find dealing with the Grimm a little easier?"

Thankfully, while venturing well out of the kingdom had been out of the question for now, there was still plenty that could be done. For example, while the public was feeling noticeably more at ease than they were before, there was still a fair bit of negativity in the air and it'd been recently drawing more Grimm than usual to the walls. Because of this, there'd popped up a mission to head to Vale's southernmost wall to slay or otherwise drive back the Grimm that had gathered there over the past several days.

JNPR had all but literally jumped at the chance this mission was posted and had set out posthaste.

As of now, they'd finished a somewhat lengthy battle – about a half hour long, to be more precise. There'd been quite a lot of Grimm, mainly Beowulves and Ursas from what he'd initially seen and they'd all been very spread out. There'd even been a few Deathstalkers and Nevermores here and there too.

Having split up into pairs, they'd set out to cover as much ground as possible and move as far away from the walls as possible to draw the Grimm away. It was an all too simple tactic that had worked very well, much to Jaune's relief.

"We kicked ass like it was nothing!" Nora responded to his question with her usual exuberance. Said exuberance was appreciated but ultimately unhelpful, not that Jaune had the heart to tell the girl that.

Thankfully, Ren provided a much more detailed answer. "We did, indeed. Those drills we'd come up with had really helped improve our coordination; I'd provided distractions and cover while Nora here focused primarily on blowing the Grimm away once they were clustered together. It also felt as if the Grimm seemed a bit slower than before too for some reason…"

"Ah… I felt the same," Pyrrha chipped in. She then looked to Jaune and smiled a little. "I can figure out why too."

Jaune could only scratch the side of his face, somewhat embarrassed.

Aside from long discussions on team combinations and actually putting them into practice during training, they'd taken to sparring with one another and other teams as well, in addition to greatly intensified drills – calisthenics, weightlifting, that sort of thing.

More often than not, his friends had sparred against him one on one and in teams against him, a result of the noticeable strength difference between them. He'd been on the receiving end of their new tactics and they in turn had been all but literally overwhelmed by his now ridiculous strength even though he'd done his best to hold back enough to avoid dealing them grievous injuries.

From the sounds of it, they'd found the experience most beneficial as they were now just a bit more used to fighting someone much stronger, tougher and faster than them while on his end… well, he honestly didn't get too much out of it, not that he'd ever say it aloud; his strength had grown so much during these past few weeks, especially against that man back in Sol, that it was honestly absurd even by his standards.

Just how strong will his semblance make him? Jaune couldn't even begin to fathom anymore what limits he may have.

But will it be enough to fight and defeat that man should they fight again? Again, he had no way to know.

"That said, we've still a long way to go compared to you," Ren then said, snapping Jaune out of his thoughts. The boy looked somewhat amazed. "Your strength grows at a truly insane rate… and to an equally insane degree."

"Right?" Nora agreed. "I mean seriously, you were taking on those bigger Grimm like the Deathstalkers like it was nothing! You didn't even have to use that aura technique or whatever you call it! Hell, you still haven't even tried to replace the sword you broke back in Sol!"

Indeed, ever since one of his blades had broken during the fight back in Sol, he's yet to get it fixed or otherwise replaced. This was partly due to the fact that getting weapons fixed can actually take quite a while depending on how complex a weapon it is and while his blades were simple ones – i.e. not part gun, like most others weapons he's seen so far – the materials they were made out of were almost exclusive to places well outside the kingdom walls. Procuring the materials needed to fix his sword were thus hard to obtain. A true shame since said blades had been a gift from a smith he'd befriended very early in his journey on the frontier.

However, this was only part of the reason – he was also curious to experience for himself just how far he can get by with just the one blade. He'd gotten so used to dual wielding with a bit of unarmed combat thrown in here and there, that having been reduced to one blade for an extended period of time felt rather alien to him. Not that it really hampered his combat ability or anything, but it was a novel experience. And he knew that there'd be times where he wouldn't be able to use both blades anyways. Now was as good a time as any to get used to fighting without both blades available.

"Ren's right," Pyrrha then stated, having been nodding along with his every word. "You really do outpace us in that regard… come to think of it, is it because of your semblance?"

At that, Jaune winced. He may have told Pyrrha quite a bit about his past now, including how he got the scar upon his face, and he may have also told Nora and Ren recently too of such a thing, but he's yet to tell anyone of what his semblance has truly been doing to him.

"Partially, yes," he began. "It helps me continually break past my limits and get stronger faster, but that's only in terms of pure physical prowess. When it comes to actually honing my technique, that's all me," he explained, trying to keep it brief. Of course, there was a lot he was leaving out, but that was the gist of it.

"So you're just going to keep on getting stronger and stronger, huh? That's pretty cool!" Nora commented.

"Only if I keep pushing the limits, I guess," he answered sheepishly. "Now come on – let's head back and report in."

His friends replied in the affirmative and they made their way back to the wall of Vale, calling in a bullhead to come pick them up as they did so. By the time they made it back to the wall, the bullhead had already arrived and been waiting.

"Damn, you four cleared out all those Grimm by yourselves?! Pretty impressive!" the pilot said upon them entering it.

"Heh! What can we say, we're just naturally awesome!" Nora replied, puffing her chest out while the rest of them looked rather embarrassed by the praise.

However, in Jaune's case, said embarrassment only lasted a split second before getting serious. "Any other sectors outside the walls that need to be tended to?"

"Nah, it was really only this side that had Grimm practically crawling about," the pilot answered. "Got to say, when I was told to only transport the one team out here to deal with them, I'd been kind of skeptical about you four dealing with them all, but not did you really slay them, it didn't take too long at all! Have to tip my hat off to you on that."

"We just did what we could and as best we could. It helped too that the Grimm territories around Vale are made up of the more, well, basic Grimm," Jaune answered truthfully.

More recent events aside, Vale was considered the most peaceful kingdom for good reason – Grimm around it were comprised of mainly Beowulves, Ursas and Nevermore, with Deathstalkers making up a small number relatively speaking. There were somewhat more exotic Grimm like Gryphons and Alpha Beowulves, but they were very few in number in comparison to the other Grimm around here. There were Goliaths too, but they were well out past Vale's walls and tended to stick to themselves unless irritated.

Now, Grimm were dangerous no matter what, but compared to the Geists, Sphinxes, Manticores, Apathies, and more out there in the other kingdoms, Beowulves and Ursas weren't exactly the most intimidating.

"Heh, well, if you guys keep doing your best like that, then I'd say Vale has nothing to fear anymore!" the pilot chipperly said.

"I hope so…" Jaune mumbled.

The rest of their trip back to Beacon then went by in relative silence, save for the conversation Nora struck up with the pilot, occasionally drawing them into it.

As it was the weekend and relatively early in the morning, they didn't have to worry about class since there was none and the platforms were plenty deserted with only a relative handful of students and faculty up and at it.

The peace and quiet very much appealed to Jaune, but strangely he was still feeling on edge and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why.

After disembarking from the bullhead, they headed for the cafeteria where they decided to have an early lunch and they all pigged out, having become quite famished from their exertion earlier.

As they took their time eating, more and more students slowly yet steadily began to trickle in, stopping by to either hang out with one another or to grab a quick bite to eat before heading out to train or begin a mission.

Just as they were finishing up their heavy meal and were ready to take it easy for a while, their other friends came on by.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby called out, the young leader of RWBY in a good mood, more so than usual.

"Ruby, hey," Jaune replied with a small smile, finding the girl's enthusiasm infectious. "Good morning to you all too."

He was, of course, calling out to the rest of her team who in turn bid them a hello as they took a seat by their side. They'd already gone up to the counter to get themselves some food too and now were about to begin eating.

Jaune and his team opted to just sit there and talk with team RWBY as the latter ate.

"How did the mission go, you guys?" Yang asked at some point, biting into a juicy steak. "Kill a lot of Grimm?"

"Oh yeah, definitely! You should've seen it – absolutely slaughtered them!" Nora boasted.

Yang looked bummed. "Man, wish I could've been there – I mean, I don't mind what we've been doing recently, but cutting loose on some Grimm is sounding awfully good to me right now."

"Ah, that's right, you four have still been working with the police and some soldiers from Atlas, yes?" Pyrrha asked in curiosity.

"Mhm. You can thank our resident Weiss cream for that."

"I-In my defense, it's a good way to spend time with my sister," Weiss defended. "Can you really blame me since I wouldn't be able to see her much outside of this?"

Yang raised her hands for a moment to placate her. "Hey, hey, I get it. Just gets kind of boring after a while, you know? The work, not being around your big sis."

"I for one enjoy how Winter Schnee all but snubs her nose at you every time you talk," Blake suddenly quipped with a small smirk.

"H-Hey, not my fault she doesn't know comedic genius when she sees or hears it!" Yang shot back defensively.

"Yang, your puns are the worst I've ever heard," Ruby said in a shockingly deadpan tone. "I mean, even dad's are better than yours! And all he does are dad jokes!"

"At least your father has an actual sense of humor from the sounds of it…" Weiss mumbled in mild bemusement. She was clearly referring to her own father, who, from what little she's spoken of about him, wasn't exactly a kind man. It said something about how comfortable the heiress had gotten with them all that she could even remotely say something like that in a semi-joking tone.

And so, on and on this went, both teams continued their chatter, content to just enjoy one another's presence.

However, it wasn't long at all until things got relatively serious.

"So…" Pyrrha began. "How are things going on your end?"

Despite the vagueness of the question, everyone there clearly understood what she was getting at. Team RWBY had kept them in the loop about Tukson and what was going on. As a result, the two teams had sort of come to an unspoken agreement on what to do. JNPR would continue going through life like normal, just training and going on missions whilst team RWBY would try to work with Tukson on whatever he needed help with in addition to their own training.

However, it was also made clear from the start that there wasn't much to really be done other than continuous investigation into what the White Fang may be doing next. Unfortunately, to do that required a solid lead, which they were lacking.

Weiss wanting to spend time with her sister aside, this was primarily why RWBY was spending so much time around the police and Winter Schnee – they were hoping to get some juicy info with which to actually work with. Tukson, for his part, would continue to work his own magic and see if he could come up with something to report.

And judging by the expressions on the girls' faces, the answer to Pyrrha's question was as clear as day.

"Still nothing?" Ren asked, if only for formality's sake.

"Still nothing," Blake confirmed with a sigh. When she spoke again, it was with a quieter tone in case anyone nearby tried to overhear their new conversation. Given the lack of people around, this may seem like an unneeded action, but Jaune found himself understanding the girl's caution. "Atlas' specialists have completely taken over any and all investigations in the White Fang, so the police are a complete dead end now. Sadly, Winter Schnee and her team have yet to dig up anything concrete."

"Why do you think that is?" Jaune now spoke.

"I think it's because they're mainly limiting their searching to areas within Vale and around Mount Glenn. By now, Adam's sect would've already retreated to somewhere well outside those territories. Atlas is expanding their search radius, but frankly they're going in blind – no offense to Atlas, but it feels to me like they're expecting to find some obvious bunker where Adam and his forces will all be holed up at." Blake's expression now became thoughtful as she pondered something. "…While them having an actual bunker out there wouldn't be out of the question, it would obviously be well hidden. And I mean, very well hidden – there'd only be a few entrances and they'd be made to blend in with the surrounding environment."

"What if they set up a camp rather than build a bunker from scratch?" Jaune then asked.

"They'd choose to set up camp within a thick forest, again somewhere where they can blend in with the environment."

"Wouldn't that be kind of cramped though?" Nora questioned, genuinely curious.

"It would be, yes, but it's nothing new; back when I was with them, we had to do what we had to if it meant being effective. Uncomfortable living circumstances can be put up with if it's ultimately for a greater cause."

"And does Atlas know this?" Pyrrha seemed rather confused. "Have you brought it up with them?"

"They're familiar with White Fang tactics, but you have to consider the changes in the environment," Blake started. "In Atlas, it's nothing but snowy mountains and plains and cramped buildings like those found in Mantle. Out here in Anima, it's much more spacious but also hilly and with many lush forests. There's more options for where the White Fang can set up base at and many more ways they can go about doing so. some basics may apply across the board, but that's about it. As for bringing it up with them, well…" Blake trailed off.

Jaune looked to her, confused. His teammates looked rather perplexed too.

Weiss chose to enlighten them, albeit with a certain level of embarrassment. "My sister… she's done well to rise through the ranks within Atlas' military. Unfortunately, to do that within such a short time requires a certain level of paranoia to effectively deal with any changes in her circumstances."

"Ah." Jaune understood. "In other words, she's a paranoiac, much like general Ironwood from what I've heard."

Weiss nodded as did Blake. "Blake and I have done our best to suggest some of this to her and her group, but if we demonstrate too great a level of knowledge about this, Winter will start suspecting something and try to wring it out of us if need be."

"Even though you're sisters? And working towards the same goal?" Jaune's confusion was hitting its peak right now.

"You all may be perfectly fine with me having once been a part of the White Fang…" Blake began very quietly. "But Winter Schnee and others from the Atlas military are a different story. If somehow they were to find out my past, they won't hesitate to all but literally string me up and interrogate me. In that kind of situation, I could tell them as many times as I want about how I'd defected but until they can confirm it for themselves, they won't let me go and any and all help I and the others here have given them will be considered highly untrustworthy."

"That's…" Pyrrha began, only to stop, not knowing what to say.

"Screwed up?" Yang chipped in, finishing her sentence for her. "It sure is… but from what Weiss and Blake here have told me and Ruby… well, it is what it is, I guess." She sounded quite bitter about it.

Blake nodded sadly. "Of all the kingdoms, Atlas treats Faunus the worst, especially the SDC. As such, they're the main targets of the White Fang."

"There's been much blood spilt between the Atlas military and the White Fang," Weiss said. "And more than a few workers from the SDC along with some more distant members of my family have been killed by them too…. I was but a young child at the time and though I still ended up hearing of all this anyways, I was still shielded from the worst of it back then. Winter, however… she wasn't."

In other words, Winter and the rest of the Atlas military had a very serious bone to pick with the White Fang. While it felt to him like perhaps they were all being far too cautious in some respects, Jaune could see their reasoning.

"That's a very delicate line you're walking there," he couldn't help but comment.

"W-Well, we're doing what we can," Ruby said weakly. "…Trying to become a huntress sure isn't easy, isn't it?"

"Accomplishing things rarely are easy," Jaune responded softly.

Things aren't simply black and white. It may be easy to look at a situation from the outside and determine what was and wasn't' a smart move to make, but when one is directly involved in the moment, figuring out what to do amidst a veritable storm of ever changing factors and emotion, figuring out what was best to do was much more difficult.

Ruby could only grumble in reluctant agreement and proceeded to wolf down the rest of her food. Her teammates followed her lead albeit with far more grace, especially Weiss. Jaune and his friends remained respectfully silent as RWBY finished up their meals.

Finally, the two teams began to take their leave from the cafeteria.

Unsure of what to do right this moment, they settled for just walking around almost aimlessly. Their first stop was out to the courtyard, in order to enjoy the lovely fragrances the flowers there were putting out.

They were hardly the only ones out there, a number of other students milling about peacefully.

Until things were no longer peaceful.

Some students were sitting lazily on benches, watching something on their scrolls. At first, they'd been pretty quiet, but now these same students were sporting widening eyes, the shock evident. More than a few even swore aloud, loud enough to garner attention from others that were otherwise minding their own business.

Naturally, this grabbed the attention of both JNPR and RWBY. The two teams slowed their pace down to turn and look as a small crowd swiftly formed to see whatever was going on. Those that couldn't see whatever the students on the benches were looking at opted to just pull out their own scrolls and try searching the news itself. And as they did so, they ended up having the same expressions too.

That same tension he'd been feeling earlier returned with a vengeance to Jaune. "Check the news," he suddenly said to his friends, but they were already way ahead of him, Ruby and Nora having pulled out their scrolls before he even finished what he was saying.

As both teams huddled around the two short girls, Jaune was keenly aware of many students now looking their way.

…No, not their way per say…

They all were looking _Blake's_ way.

And as they brought up the news, Jaune immediately knew why.

* * *

James wasn't a man prone to going slack-jawed in complete shock, but whenever he did so, it was because the general of Atlas had seen something truly unexpected.

And that was exactly what he was seeing right now on the news.

"… _Again, the sender of this information is anonymous, but according to the information packet sent in to us along with photographic evidence, it would appear that Blake Belladonna, currently a student at Beacon Academy, is none other than the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, former leader of the White Fang prior to Sienna Khan's rise to power and subsequent radicalization of the White Fang itself. Additionally, this information strongly suggests Blake Belladonna stayed with the White Fang for several years after its reformation into the radicalized organization it is today. According again to photos, she played a significant part in numerous acts of espionage and…"_

On and on Lisa Lavender went, the famous reporter doing little to hide her own surprise over this news that had apparently been dropped all but literally into her lap out of the blue.

James could scarcely bring himself to listen to the rest of the story. All he'd wanted to do today was just sleep in a bit longer than usual, having pushed himself considerably during his own investigations the last several days. He'd turned on the news whilst freshening up with the simple intention of getting some weather updates as well as amusing himself with some of the ridiculous stories the media likes to churn out on occasion, such as certain celebrities breaking up with one another or picking a name for their damned pet finally.

To see this happen on live TV while in the midst of what should have been a simple day had not been something he felt he could've ever truly been prepared for.

However, the shock wore off quickly enough as something came to mind.

There was absolutely no way Ozpin would've let something like this slip by him. All this information the news was now spitting out, the man himself must know as well and possibly in even further depth.

…He trusts Oz. Really, he does. Ozpin was far from a perfect man, but perfection itself was an impossibility in practice. He's made plenty of mistakes throughout his many lives, of this James knew.

But letting a terrorist right into Beacon of all places?

Oz has been slipping up a lot recently, but this? This was finally the last straw.

The general of Atlas wanted some fucking answers and by the gods, he fully intended to go and get them right this instant.

But first thing first… he knew not the full story behind this Blake Belladonna, but until he could ascertain for himself the truth, he couldn't afford to leave things to chance.

Picking up his scroll, he proceeded to call up Winter.

This student had to be picked up and taken into custody _right now._

* * *

Adam watched with nary an expression as the news played out. He wasn't alone in this endeavor, numerous others having stopped what they were doing to watch what would happen too.

"Yeesh, it's getting pretty nuts online right now," one of his men said, having apparently checked Kritter to see what comments people were leaving right now on Lisa Lavender's personal page. Going by his statement, it would seem the hot new story was getting plenty of attention.

By all rights, this should be a good thing, but Adam could hardly find it in him to feel any sort of satisfaction.

"Wish we could see the look on that girl's face right now… or that of her friends…" muttered another one of his forces., more out of morbid curiosity rather than any vindictiveness. "…So, looks like it went off without a hitch, sir. So just how long should we…?"

"Give it a few days at least," Adam responded "Given Atlas' presence in Vale right now combined with this, they'll most likely try to take Blake into custody. And as confident as I am in our training and experience, sneaking aboard an Atlas vessel to kill her would be nearly impossible to do. I've no doubt the headmaster of Beacon will try to keep that from happening but there's no guarantee he'll be successful in this. Thus, we have to wait."

"Uhm, but wouldn't being able to pull off a stunt like that really be sending a message to those damned humans…?"

"It would, yes, but not without us suffering casualties in the process," Adam pointed out patiently. "It'd be a pyrrhic victory at best."

He hadn't been lying when he said he'd confidence in his force's expertise in conducting such dangerous missions, a result of the people under his command at this moment being the older and much more experienced ones for the most part, as opposed to the ones that he'd reluctantly lent to Cinder all that time ago, the newbies.

However, it was precisely because his current forces were so skilled that he refused to risk them right now. As things now stood, they were a small outfit. To lose even one or two people in such a scenario could cause large setbacks in the long term. And although he was well aware that he had plenty of White Fang sympathizers out there in addition to numerous other members of the White Fang itself that would support his more drastic measures, it's not as if he can just lackadaisically reach out to them for support, not when he still had to worry about Sienna possibly trying something. Just because that woman didn't have many options right now didn't mean she was just going to sit back and let him continue to act independently.

"Oh, looks like the public is already calling on Ozpin to hold a press conference," the man who was checking Kritter commented.

Adam hummed. "And I suspect the council is already giving him an earful about this too. And he's likely trying to calm down Ironwood too right now… for once, I almost pity a human."

He pities Blake too, but the die has been cast already. There was no going back from here on out, he thought.

Sighing, he finally turned from the screen to face his crew. "What's the status of our forces inside Vale?"

"They're standing by, sir," answered a female White Fang member. "They've yet to make any moves as per your orders. One of them is out there in the streets, however; watching up close to see what will happen. Looks like some people are practically trying to storm Beacon."

Adam nodded. That made sense. Normally, the people of Vale, humans and Faunus alike, were relatively mild, but the sheer number of incidents that's been happening over the past several weeks have clearly been weighing on them. That they haven't actually formed a mob – yet – was an honest surprise.

"Tell them all to continue standing by… but also to keep their eyes and ears sharp – whatever moves Ironwood and Ozpin make regarding Blake, I want to know the second it happens," Adam ordered.

The woman nodded and proceeded to relay his words. While she did that, Adam turned back around to look at the screen, just in time to see the news all but literally plaster up a photo of Blake herself, one of the photos that had been sent to them in the first place.

Seeing her as she once was, strong and courageous, was most likely a stark contrast with her current self, likely that of a panicked and stricken young woman. Again, such a thought rather hurt him, to have to go this far.

Nonetheless, he steeled himself yet again. He shall do what must be done.

That said, he had much to prepare. He's already been coming up with possible scenarios on how the current situation will play out, all for the sake of being able to get into Vale and slay Blake without resulting in too big a hurdle for his current forces. However, he'd also been preoccupied coming up with others plans as well for dealing with yet another woman in his life:

Cinder.

It's been quite a while since he's hijacked her train plan and he doubted the woman would take that lying down. In all honesty, he'd damn near forgotten about her in his haste to simultaneously deal with Blake while bolstering his force's image in the eyes of Remnant.

Cinder was a woman of focus, that much he shall give her. Thus, it wouldn't surprise him at all if she's still somewhere within Vale, preparing her next move as well, a move he now felt best to be ready for. What little he'd known of her plans back then had made it clear to him that it didn't matter to her how many people died for the sake of her ultimate goal, whatever that would be. Naturally, that meant she couldn't care less how many Faunus would die in the process as well, including those that had been under her own employ back then.

Yes, now more than ever he couldn't afford to slip up.

"On second thought," he spoke to the woman acting as part of his communications staff. "Inform our men in Vale to prepare for our arrival. Whatever comes next, we will have to be a part of it. I want one of them to do some recon, find a place where we can sneak in without hassle and set up base. I'm well aware of the Atlas forces patrolling the streets, but it must be done. Try to have them look into Cinder too, just to find out her general movements."

"Yes sir!" the woman responded and carried out the order.

He then approached another staff member. "What's our munitions supply looking like right now?"

"I'm not too sure, actually…" the staff member began sheepishly. "I'll go check myself right now!"

Adam nodded. "Then go. Be thorough."

"Sir, are we actually going to try and combat that crazy human?" another person spoke, referring to Cinder.

"Sadly, I believe we must. Better to try and get her out of the way now than let her continue to run about where she could cause us trouble later down the line," Adam explained.

Was he perhaps being hasty? Adam was self-aware enough to entertain the possibility now… but hasty or not, the more he thought on it, the more he did realize that Cinder needed to be dealt that. He wasn't sure how, but that mysterious power she wielded that didn't feel like either a semblance or Dust had been what had made him so wary of going against her even when their aims had generally aligned. However, that had primarily been due to her having gotten the drop on him and his forces back then, when she'd forced him into working for her.

Now, however, things were different. Unless things have really changed, it felt like she was the one in a disadvantageous position. He'd have to make use of that lest she turn things around on him again.

However, even if his forces got the drop on her, he doubted their ability to deal with her and those two human brats of hers. To be perfectly frank, those three were just that strong. Thus, he will be the one to mainly content with them, backed by just a few of his most skilled subordinates.

He couldn't afford to put this off though, he noted. With the bombshell he'd just dropped on Vale via the info on Blake, he'd have a window span of just a week or two at most to first deal with Cinder before he can move onto dealing with Blake if he wished to deliver maximum impact.

Looks like he and his men were going to be quite busy then, planning out how to best do all this.

Adam quite relished this, if only to distract himself from all of his previously dour thoughts.

It was time to get to work again.

* * *

"Oh my…" Watts said with a bit of a smirk as he looked at his scroll.

Hazel, just walking a bit of a distance away from the man possessed a sharp enough sense of hearing to pick up what had gotten his ally's attention so suddenly. "So, that man had let an apparent terrorist of all people into his academy, hmm?"

"It would seem that way, yes," Watts replied as he turned off and pocketed his scroll, the news having only warranted just a moment of his time at best, it would seem. "I'd imagine Salem would find a fair bit of joy in seeing how much trouble appears to be falling into Ozpin's lap. How about you? Enjoying this?"

"Hardly," Hazel answered truthfully. "Only when I can get my hands on the man himself will I even come close to relishing anything."

"Hmm, I suppose so. After all, I feel much the same."

"…Just what do you plan to do anyways, Watts? You've been incredibly tight-lipped about why you're going this far out of your way to get back at Atlas."

"If you're worried if my own vendetta will get in the way of you fulfilling your own, worry not. Again, our interests generally coincide. As for what I plan, well, I'm afraid you must continue to respect my right to silence on that matter."

Hazel sighed. "It feels like that's all I've been doing this whole we've traveled together. At the very least, give me a hint."

Watts let out a hum and peered upwards for a brief moment as he clearly thought on it. "Very well, then. Perhaps it would do some good to give you a little backstory on the matter."

And so, Hazel listened in patient silence as Watts began to regale him of what started it all.

And in the nearing distance, the walls of Vale loomed over them.

* * *

Ozpin felt his age now more than ever. The phrase 'getting too old for this shit' was just a tad bit crass, but incredibly apt in his current situation.

His otherwise quiet weekend had come to a horribly abrupt end when news on the young Belladonna's past had arisen and with it had come an almost literal storm of public outcry. It wasn't just civilians either that were raising their voices over this matter – the council and a number of students here at Beacon itself had been all too quick to make their opinions known.

In light of all this, he'd tried to have Blake Belladonna brought in and quietly moved elsewhere, somewhere well out of mind of everyone. Thankfully, she and her friends had already been coming to him by the time he'd tasked Glynda to find her, so that had saved a bit of time.

Unfortunately, that had been about the only good thing, for they hadn't been the only ones to come his office; James had come as well, along with Winter Schnee and a few of her own men.

It'd taken a few forceful words, but he'd managed to usher the R, W, and Y members of RWBY out of his office accompanied by Glynda. Winter Schnee and her own forces had been ordered out as well, thus leaving him alone with James and Blake Belladonna.

Now, one would think having to deal with only one irate person would be more preferable than dealing with several people yelling all at once, but this wasn't the case this time around. Honestly, Ozpin would much prefer to deal with a rightfully angry team RWBY than an angry James.

"-Oz, are you listening to me?!" the man all but roared as he slammed a hand down on his desk. "There's no way something like this would've slipped by you, so just why would you let a supposedly former terrorist into Beacon?! And why would you fail to tell me of such a thing?! Just who else even knows about this girl's past?!"

Said girl was sitting quietly and defeated in a chair that was a fair distance away from James. Ozpin stood in between the two of them as though he were a protective parent. And in a way, he supposed he was. After all, in numerous past lives, this was a role he'd taken up a number of times in a variety of circumstances. And despite the teen's experiences and hardships having made her strong, she was ultimately a child in his eyes still.

"James-," he began, trying to maintain a calming tone, only to be cut off before he could even say anything else.

"Don't you dare take that tone with me, Oz!" the general yelled. "This isn't a situation that you could just talk your way out of like you normally do! There's a mountain of questions that I want answers to and I demand them now! Or else you _will_ let me take her into custody and get the answers out of her herself!"

James then suddenly leaned to his left and glared past him at the quiet girl. "Or would you rather just speak right now, girl?" he spoke now in an almost dangerously quiet tone. His fury may now suddenly be tranquil in nature, but it was no less intense than it was just seconds ago when he'd been yelling.

Blake could only flinch and wither under his gaze. "…I… I…" She was clearly doing her best to say something, but the suddenness of the past ten or so minutes have really taken a toll on her.

Ozpin could only sigh internally at the sad sight and moved to block her completely from James' view.

"That is enough," he said with steel in his voice, a genuine flash of anger making itself known too. It was just intense enough to keep James from yelling again and had even gotten Blake to perk her head up, if only by a bit.

"I'm well aware of how bad this looks to everyone, but the choices I've made up until now regarding her were not mistaken. Yes, Blake Belladonna was once a member of the White Fang. She's committed numerous acts of espionage… and more. But she's had a change of heart over how the White Fang operates. She left the organization when she could stomach what it was gradually becoming no more and in doing so, she managed to prevent an entire train of civilians from being derailed. Does this one act make up for all she's done? It does not… but you and I know damn well that others have done far worse and been able to redeem themselves, James." Ozpin said this all in one breath, speaking in a steady but angry tone. He then leaned forward a little and spoke in a much quieter voice, only so that the general could hear. "And you also know well that what we've done in order to combat Salem was just as bad if not worse."

That got a reaction out of James, who flinched ever so slightly before grimacing outright. It looked like now the general might be reining himself in.

But Ozpin wasn't done just yet, now speaking up again so that his student could hear him. "She's made it clear she wishes to redeem herself. I, of all people, can never deny someone a chance to do that. And neither should you."

"…Just because she seeks redemption doesn't erase her past," James growled. "And how do you know she isn't simply lying? What if she is still working for the White Fang."

"No." That single word hadn't come from him, but rather from Blake herself. It would seem that she's finally found that inner strength of hers again. Whether this was due to his own words just now or something else, Ozpin didn't know, but he now stepped aside so that the girl was now looking directly at James. "In the beginning, I'll admit to being taken in by the more 'proactive' approach the White Fang was taking under Sienna's leadership. For the sake of equality for all Faunus, I was willing and even eager at times to carry out the acts listed in the news, I won't deny that. But overtime, things began to change. It was slowly at first, but more and more members of the White Fang started to do what they did less out of justice for our kind and more out of pettiness and spite towards humanity. Hatred and bloodlust started to control them and before I knew it, the number of civilian casualties started to grow rapidly with every mission I either went on or heard of. They just… they just stopped caring about who they had to hurt to get what they wanted… some of them _even made it a point_ to take out as many civilians as they could during missions just because they felt like it."

Blake took a deep breath then continued. "For the sake of equality, I was willing to do what I'd thought at the time had to be done to achieve it. I never once enjoyed it, but I'd done it all nonetheless. But now, the White Fang no longer is about achieving equality. So long as Sienna is the high leader, it may not be that way overall, but the organization as a whole is still steadily heading that way, whether she knows it herself or not. And when I'd come to this realization, I just found myself unable to stand it anymore. It'd been at that moment that I'd realized what I could've become as well if I'd been any slower on the uptake… and it scared me. It's no longer the White Fang I'd known… I'm no longer the person I'd thought I was… and now, if only regarding the latter, I want to change that. So, please… just give me a chance."

There was a very long and tense minute of silence as James and his student had a stare off. Ozpin watched from the sidelines, proud of his student but worried still anyways. James was a good man, but sometimes a brash one. He hoped the general would see reason.

Finally, James backed down, visibly deflating to an extent. Sighing followed by closing his eyes and pinching the spot in between them in obvious frustration, the man finally spoke in a fairly calm voice. "…Just what can you even provide to me to prove your trust?"

"Absolutely nothing," Blake replied immediately. "As much as I know about the White Fang's basic procedures and the like, they've been changing things recently so the information I have may not be too reliable now."

"But even then, you're still asking for me to give you a chance."

"That's right. Just a chance. That's all I'll ever ask for and all I'll ever need."

The two of them stared yet again, but for a much shorter period of time. James grimaced and then looked his way. "…You do realize you'll need to think of a way to settle down both the council and public soon, right?"

Ozpin couldn't prevent himself from sighing tiredly. "Trust me, James, I know." There truly was no rest to be found here, it seemed.

"Then…?" Blake began with a hint of hopefulness.

James focused back on her. "…For now, you will be free to go," he said. He then held up a hand before Blake could say or do anything in response. "However, don't think you're getting off clean here – this is still a terrible situation on our hands. Can only imagine how many Grimm this is now going to attract to Vale's walls. You want to prove yourself? Then you and your team can start working on the walls, mopping up any Grimm that get too close. I'm aware we've people already doing that, but more manpower never hurts. Also, a close eye will be kept on you and until this new media storm dies down, it'd be best to stay within a different inside the student dorms. As for when you're in class…"

"I'll do something about that," Ozpin now said, wishing to take over before James could possibly change his mind. "For now, however, you're free to go, miss Belladonna. And as James just said, I would advise you to be cautious in how you go about things – your admirable courage aside, this is not a storm we can simply wither without issue."

The B of team RWBY looked to him and the general in gratitude. "…Thank you. Truly," she said, bowing her head for a moment before taking her leave.

There was a bit of noise going on outside, her team having still been waiting out there along with a clearly annoyed Glynda and Winter, but the headmaster took this reprieve for what it was and pointedly ignored the noise.

"I still meant what I said earlier," James said, glaring at him. "Oz, the secrets you've been keeping, the way you've been handling things recently… it's honestly enraging… and hurtful. Just how many more times will things get out of hand before you finally come clean about everything?"

Ozpin could only sigh, fatigued. It went without saying that James made a valid point. He was not by any means arrogant. He never believed for even a second that he could somehow do this all on his own. Entire lifetimes worth of effort had proven otherwise.

Sadly, he's known the sting of betrayal far too many times upon letting too many people know certain secrets. They'd all told him the same thing, that they could be trusted and relied on, to see this through to the very end. And in most cases, that was exactly how things went. But in a number of other cases…

Ozpin closed his eyes, recalling a scant few of such times. Of the times where people he'd considered friends and allies had turned their backs on him and the others at the worst possible times, even outright conspiring against his own efforts in bringing Salem down for good. Such cases had been just common enough to leave him more than a little paranoid about those times repeating. And although he was more than self-aware enough to know this would likely not be the case with his current era of allies, decades if not centuries worth of grave missteps kept him from getting past this flaw of his.

"I know, old friend," he began as he opened his eyes again. "But you know firsthand how damning it could be to let one too many people know certain things. This is by no means a justification or excuse for my own failings… but again, I ask for understanding."

James leaned forward and placed his hands firmly on his desk. "I _do_ understand, Oz. Damn it, you know I do. But even then, this is getting far too out of hand! With every move we've been making recently, it feels like we're losing ground against Salem more and more and I can't stand it anymore! All of humanity is at stake and here we all are, continuing to stumble around in the dark, worrying over what to do. This needs to change and soon. Otherwise… otherwise, this really will all be for nothing."

Ozpin clasped his hands together tightly, knowing the general to be right. But even then, he still couldn't bring himself to give that final push to himself to let James know.

"Oz, come on… just give me something. I can think up all the plans I want, I can direct my forces however I please… but to do that effectively, I need viable intel to act on and I know that you know something," James continued. His fierce gaze then softened. "…I've been doing some digging of my own into your current plans, you know?"

At that, Ozpin looked up from his desk in genuine surprise at James' sudden admission.

"It's clear that you have something going on right now. I wouldn't quite call it a plan of sorts, but it does feel like you're acting on one of those longshots of yours, one of those 'hope for the best' things that you seem to stumble upon somehow… like Ruby Rose, for example, what with those silver eyes of hers."

Ah… while it didn't seem like he actually knew anything just yet, it seemed to Ozpin that James was referring to Jaune Arc and the mission JNPR had been sent out on…

"I… see." Ozpin fell silent right after. Then, after a few seconds, he looked his friend right in the eyes and finally came to a resolution.

For James to have actually been looking into things on his own like this and to even boldly declare as much right now… the ancient man finally realized the gravity of the situation.

Just when had he become so passive? So paranoid and ruled by fear born from his own past failings? Now more than ever, that had to change.

Very well then. If James would so openly admit such a thing, then now truly was a time to be truthful. Perhaps not entirely – the knowledge that Salem couldn't be killed was one secret he'd have to keep a while longer – but at the very least, he owed James some secrets.

"James… I-," Ozpin began, only to be cut off when his scroll suddenly and loudly rang.

It was enough to almost startle both him and James. The scroll currently ringing was indeed his own, but it was the one he used solely for emergencies, when one of those in the know suddenly came upon truly serious trouble.

And pulling it out, Ozpin had to do his best to not let out a hiss of worry. It was Qrow's number.

He answered it and put it on speaker so that James could hear too. He worried not over anyone listening in from outside his office – Glynda and Winter had taken their leave alongside team RWBY and he'd receive an alert if anyone got within a certain distance of his office. It's how he always knew people were coming to see him even when it was unexpected.

"Qrow? What's the situation?" he asked quickly.

The answer he received was in the form of the sounds of battle obviously raging on in the background… along with the sound of near-deafening thunder, screams, and mad cackling.

Rather than make a bad quip before getting to the point in a semi-seirous tone like he would normally do, Qrow this time got straight to the point… and his shock was as plain as day in the tone of his voice.

"Tyrian Callows is working for Salem and right now he's here tearing through the tribe in Mistral!" Qrow all but yelled, cutting off for just a split second. The sound of metal clashing followed by the cackling getting even louder and a pained cry from Qrow rang through Ozpin's ears. "H-He's – gah! – what the hell is he on-?!"

"Qrow! Focus, please! What's going on?" Ozpin responded before Qrow could start rambling.

"He's… he's just a total fucking berserker right now! But – damn it, hey, you three! Get the hell away from here before-! Shit!" There was the sound of movement and more screaming before Qrow returned. "That's not all, Oz! We both found our target…!"

The Spring Maiden. That was one statement was enough to get Ozpin and James both to nearly freeze in genuine surprise. Just what were the odds?

"Qrow, you need to tell her to escape. You both need to get out of there, right now! Try to talk Raven into providing assistance if you can! In the meantime, I'll find the huntsmen and huntresses closest to your location and send them there as backu-!"

"That's the thing, Oz – Raven is the Maiden!"

The power of the Maiden… in the hands of a former ally of his turned bandit. The shock was enough to get the headmaster's heart pumping like no tomorrow. Oh, the ramifications of all this…

"Send that backup, Oz!" Qrow said, snapping him out of it. "Send it right the hell now!"

That was when the call was cut off. The last thing he and James heard was once again that horrible and evil laughter.

* * *

 **Yeah, not going to lie, that ending could've been better. Tried to write it several times, but for some reason building up the tension properly just wasn't coming to me. What you read right there was the best I was able to do, sadly.**

 **That said, that definitely won't be the case from here on out. It'd been a serious hassle trying to juggle a number of the characters' plans without them getting too jumbled up but I like to think I managed it well enough. Now that shit is hitting the fan again, things will get just a bit more streamlined as things slowly come to a peak.**

 **Expect some surprises in the near future and very sudden ones at that too! I can't wait to get around to writing them! Alas, my original novel will take priority for the time being, heh.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	30. Chapter 30

Sorry for the wait, everyone. Life got rather busy the past few weeks and wore me out, so I wasn't able to sit down and type this as often as I'd liked.

Whelp, took a while, but recently I finally beat Death Stranding's story, ha ha. Only reason it took me this long is because I kept getting distracted by all the side stuff within it. Don't know about you guys, but I quite enjoyed it overall. Sure, had its downpoints, but its upside felt like it made it up to me. Probably because I'm the kind of guy who enjoys solving problems provided it's solvable and not on a time crunch. In any case though, I'm pretty pooped out by now with the game. Just plan to connect the first prepper, novelist's son and the other guy I missed into the network and then I'll probably call its quits on Death Stranding for a while and go back to playing God of War or DMC5. And then, when March hits… Doom Eternal, here I come!

Heh, well that aside, not much else to really say in this AN. I just hope recent scenes within my fic are living up to expectations is all I can say at this point.

Now, let's start!

P.S. Avesta of Black and White continues its craziness – and I pray dearly that it only continues to escalate! God above, I really would like to do an Avesta fic one day… or at least a fic that involves characters from it. Only time will tell!

Chapter 30

Qrow had known from the very start that things weren't going to go smoothly. For one thing, things never went smoothly in general concerning his former 'family.' For another thing, as he'd left Raven's quarters the previous day to go set up camp elsewhere, just about all of the punks that comprised the tribe now hadn't wasted any time trying to stare him down and talk a lot of shit, which told him a lot about the state of the tribe in general.

Then, this morning, thanks to his damned semblance, the little spot he'd chosen to sleep the night away in ended up having some branches from the nearby trees suddenly break off and bop him in the head and then his cape had ended up getting snagged on some big rock as he'd made his way back to the tribe's encampment, an action that had nearly caused him to jerk back had he not noticed what had happened in time.

Then, as expected, when he and Raven had tried discussing the matter from yesterday again, his sister had proven just as stubborn as before. But even worse than that, she'd managed to spend the whole night regaining her cool, meaning she'd no longer been so easy to rile up, not that he'd been trying to press her buttons – he knew that if he did push his fluctuating luck then Raven would only end up trying to boot him out of here by force and he didn't fancy his odds on avoiding that; though he was dead even with his sister in combat prowess, fighting off her and every other member of the tribe at the same time would be a different story.

But just before things could've possibly escalated to that extent, yet another spontaneous event had occurred to really ruin his day-.

-The sudden reappearance of one Tyrian Callows.

He and Raven and that little punk that was always at her side it seemed like had been interrupted by the sudden sound of blades being swung followed then by screaming and then the sounds of battle… only it hadn't sounded so much like an actual battle and more like a slaughter. And when he and his twin had swiftly exited her tent, it'd been to the sight of Tyrian going to town on every member of the tribe he could see, his random appearance having caught them all totally off guard and sending many scrambling around for their weapons.

So much for all that shit-talking, Qrow had mused sardonically.

He, Raven and that girl had then readied to fight the man off, the former confident the three of them could take the crazy serial killer, but that had been when things had gone truly bad.

The instant Raven had ended up calling out to Tyrian as she'd drawn her blade had been all that the bloodthirsty man had needed to suddenly raise his stinger high… and then stab _himself_.

The inexplicability of that action had caused them all to go still for just a few seconds too long and that had been all that was needed for _something_ to happen and the next thing any of them had known, Tyrian had let loose a shrill cry of pure madness before damn near disappearing from sight in a burst of speed that they could barely even track.

What had followed next had been pure chaos in every sense of the word.

The scorpion Faunus, now under whatever effects his own venom had on him had lunged right for the girl by Raven's side only to then suddenly kick off her chest with enough force to send her flying back before heading back into the fray he'd created earlier, attacking all the other tribe members first. Then when he and Raven had tried to get into the thick of it, the lunatic had just as suddenly shrieked and thrown himself at them, the sheer momentum of his movements having been more than enough to end up forcing both of them back at the same exact time.

And that was how things ended up going for the past ten frantic minutes. If Tyrian had been nuts before, then he was well and truly out of his mind now, blitzing around the entire camp site, sporadically targeting everyone and everything with reckless abandon, even going as far as to waste time and energy just hacking up the tribe's numerous cots and supplies in between his assaults on the bandits themselves.

Qrow hadn't been sure when it quite happened during the chaos, but at some point, the madman's assault had all but kept him and Raven pinned in place despite their best efforts to even keep track of him… and that had been when, in a fit of pure rage, Raven had sheathed her blade for a moment only for her eyes to glow an all too familiar glow to Qrow.

God damn, Raven _was the Spring Maiden_ , he'd realized in that instant. And that had been when he called up Oz for some serious back up.

Because, really, they were going to need it.

For even now, with Raven levitating in the air and commanding the elements as if they were a part of her very being, _not even she was able to hit the fucking nutjob._

"Guh!" Said manic had suddenly made a beeline from his previous spot right towards Qrow, the gleam of his arm blades being all that the huntsman could fully make out in the process. He raised his sword up and blocked with the hilt as he firmly planted his feet. But even then, the attack was nearly enough to throw him off his feet; the sheer speed with which this guy was now moving at was just insane.

Making things just slightly worse, this time around, Tyrian hadn't just run off on him – no, this time he stuck around for just a little while longer, unleashing a barrage of attacks that Qrow could scarcely keep up with. For every one attack he successfully stopped in some form, at least several more would graze him and they definitely weren't love taps. He could practically feel his aura draining with every hit.

And all the while, Tyrian howled in mad delight and at such a volume that Qrow could feel his own eardrums ache.

That was when a fire ball suddenly came their way, courtesy of Raven. Qrow just barely managed to jump back in time before he or Tyrian could be struck by it but even then the sheer power of the fire ball was such that when it struck the ground, it exploded hard enough to send him flying. Tyrian went flying too, but it was clearly from how he was spinning about in midair that he'd been able to actually dodge the attack.

And just as Qrow dug his sword into the ground to slow his flight, he spotted Tyrian land on the side of a big tree and kick right off it with enough force to obliterate it. And he was heading straight for Raven.

"Shit!" Qrow hissed. Even in his still somewhat airborne state, he was able to switch his weapon to its gun form and fire several shots at the blur known as Tyrian as the man headed right for Raven. Every shot ended up missing by what felt like a mile.

However, it wasn't as if Raven was just going to let the man hit her. Drawing her blade out and visibly enhancing the currently equipped fire Dust blade her sword had with her Maiden power, she formed a blade of pure flames that extended several yards and spanning a few feet in width. Looks like Raven was going big.

His sister swung the enhanced blade with great speed and skill, the heat of it so intense that Qrow could feel it even from this distance. And by all rights, Tyrian should have no way of avoiding it.

Except…

"What?!" Qrow wasn't sure who exactly yelled out that word, but he was in full agreement as he saw Tyrian flip around and kick off the bottom of the fire blade, not even caring as his feet were now _on fire_ as he headed for the ground… but not before having managed to wrap his tail around one of Raven's legs, pulling her down with him.

The two combatants went slamming into the ground hard, bits of earth flying everywhere. Qrow had to cut through several chunks of earth that came flying his way. He could spot Raven's right hand girl and other surviving bandits doing the same too as they tried to get close to help their leader.

Tyrian was the first to recover and he lunged for Raven's downed form, easily sidestepping the sword thrust she pulled off from her downed position. However, Raven had also slammed a free hand into the ground and once again showed off her status as the Spring Maiden by making a large chunk of the ground rise up at an angle and slam right into Tyrian's midsection and then extend, taking the madman on a ride.

The crazed killer went careening tens of meters, cackling as he went slamming through numerous trees and boulders that were just past the tribe's encampment. Then, now standing up, Raven raised her sword for an overhead swing, switching out the destroyed fire Dust blade for a lightning Dust blade enhanced by wind and ice being generated by herself. She swung down with all her strength and a shockwave of lightning, wind, and ice traveled at high speeds towards Tyrian's current location, effortlessly cutting through the manipulated earth. The shockwave went on for a solid mile before Qrow lost sight of it.

But he could still hear the madman's cackling and sure enough, there he was rushing towards them all from somewhere off to his left. Looks like the scorpion Faunus had broken free of his earthly entrapment and managed to travel at least several dozen meters before Raven's recent attack had even gotten close to his previous spot.

Qrow made to intercept just as Tyrian changed course and headed for the nearest bandits. Though he wouldn't deny that his former tribe were all scum, seeing them get cut down like this wasn't something he'd wish on anyone, except for Salem but she was a natural exception.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and he could only watch as Tyrian stabbed the unfortunate bandit right in his chest with his stinger before proceeding to maul him with a torrent of slashes from his weapons.

Grimacing, the huntsman switched Harbinger into its scythe form and swung low, hoping to take advantage of its greater reach to hit Tyrian.

For just a fraction of a second, it looked like it would land, only for Qrow's hopes to be dashed when Tyrian looked up, exposing his eyes for the first time – the whites of his eyes were now a dark purple, Qrow noted in the thick of all this – and promptly jumped over him, but not quite before Qrow could somewhat graze him, the flash of aura being all that he needed to confirm this.

Undeterred, Qrow spun and swung again, hoping to catch Tyrian in midair, but the man twisted to avoid being hit again, but this action was due less to him wanting to avoid the hit but rather to build up momentum to perform another attack. Sure enough, Tyrian lashed out with one of his legs, now trying to attack that Raven's lieutenant.

The girl was barely able to raise her weapons in time to block the axe-kick, but the sheer force behind it was still enough to knock her down into the ground. Tyrian landed all but literally on top of her and wildly went in for a stab with his stinger. The girl proved to have some damn good reflexes, moving her head to the right just enough to avoid being stabbed right through her left eye.

By now, all the other bandits that were still standing immediately opened fire, not even seeming to care that the girl was right there in the crossfire. She didn't seem to mind, from the looks of it, Qrow noted, but given that Tyrian was right on top of her, she wasn't exactly in a position to worry about much else.

Qrow charged forth as did Raven, diving right into the gunfire with nary a care and the two Branwens swung their weapons at the same time with masterful precision, with every intention of getting Tyrian off of the girl.

In this endeavor, they ended up succeeding as Tyrian jumped straight up, only to then open fire for the first time with his weapons. Qrow took over for a brief second, wordlessly cutting down the bullets as he switched Harbinger back into its sword form, providing his sister just enough time to generate a small blizzard with a swing of her Maiden empowered sword.

Said blizzard seemed to freeze Tyrian almost completely solid, but not enough to really matter for he broke free of his icy prison and somehow changed direction in midair, now going for Raven again.

But this time the woman was ready for him and backed off, making Tyrian miss his mark by just enough to then form a prison of earth, just enough to encase his limbs.

Thus did the battle finally seem to slow for just a moment. Qrow finally took this brief respite to notice that Raven's earlier earth based attack had been strong enough to break through the psycho's aura, large and bleeding bruises visible on his torso.

And the bruises… they were just so wrong. They were bad enough to be bleeding a fair bit, but the blood… it wasn't red but rather a dark purple, much like the man's eyes right now…

"Oh shit…" Qrow whispered as he came to a horrible realization.

As if wanting to confirm his thoughts, the bandit that had been stung by Tyrian just seconds ago let out a terrible gasp. Qrow spun partially to look and he was far from the only one.

"Shay…? Shay?!" one of the bandits called out, having rushed to the side of the downed bandit, who was miraculously still alive despite the plethora of deep gashes and lacerations suffered from Tyrian's assault.

Or rather, it'd be way more appropriate to say he was truly misfortunate.

The young bandit – Shay – started to convulse fiercely, every muscle in his body spasming as the veins in his face and limbs became all too prominent, turning a dark purple. Foam was coming out of his chattering mouth and the veins in his eyes bulged even as they rolled into the back of his head.

And then, after several seconds that felt like hours, there were several sickening bursts from _within_ the poor bastard's body, blood seeping through several spots on the guy's clothes where certain organs would be… including where the heart was at.

Qrow was gaping in shock, so transfixed by how rapidly the man's state deteriorated that he was unable to do much of anything, not that anything could've been done in the first place given how fucking fast the venom was working.

And then…

Qrow had to avert his eyes as did Raven as one final burst occurred, that being the rest of Shay's veins. The other bandits hadn't quite been so fast in turning away and so they ended up getting a look of what became of the now dead bandit's body… and it was far from a pretty sight.

"Damn…" Qrow whispered as he forced himself to look back just slightly… and what little he could see was enough to make him leap back.

Shay's blood, now everywhere, was turning a dark purple.

Immediately, Qrow pulled off his cape and started to pat down his entire body, making sure he didn't have any blood on him, lest it was near any certain openings. He could spot Raven and the others quickly doing the same.

So caught up in this now, that none of them immediately noticed the sounds of earth shattering. Well, no, that wasn't quite true; they all heard, but the sight they just witnessed kept them from immediately registering what this new sound meant.

It wasn't until Tyrian had almost nearly broken free of his earthly prison that they caught on to what was happening.

"Waste this bastard!" Raven's lieutenant roared as she took aim with her weapons and opened fire. The other bandits did the same, yelling in pure rage as they did so.

"No, you fools!" Raven yelled. "Don't shoot so randomly-!"

She was too late in giving this order, however, and a lot of the stray shots ended up striking not just Tyrian but also the earth that was trapping most of his torso. It weakened the earth enough for Tyrian to break his upper body free and he immediately slammed his blades into the earth covering his lower half, freeing himself for good.

Qrow rushed forward and swung his blade with all his strength. Tyrian was able to dodge… but not quite with the same insane level of speed he'd been demonstrating just minutes ago. Qrow got another good look at the man's eyes too. They were still a dark purple… but not quite as much as they were before.

It looked the like venom Tyrian had injected himself with was now wearing off and with it, whatever effect it'd had on him was fading too.

But not quickly enough for Qrow's liking as the man had gone back to pouncing around the place, cackling once more but with just a tad bit more clarity now as whatever passed for sanity for this killer was returning.

"Enough!" Raven yelled, letting out a burst of pure magical power that forced everyone back, with Qrow and Tyrian being the only exceptions. In response to her outburst, storm clouds quickly formed above and with it came a lightning storm of a never before seen level as she clearly pushed her power as the Spring Maiden to the absolute limit, her eyes glowing so intensely now that Qrow could no longer even see her irises.

Dozens upon dozens of lightning bolts rained down from the sky and struck down everything within eyesight, with the only spots being spared from this onslaught being where Raven herself now levitated at along with Qrow's own position as well as that of the surviving bandits.

The rest of the camp, however, was fair game and Qrow could only watch as whatever had remained of the cots, supplies, and the corpses of the others that had already fallen to Tyrian's hands were damn near incinerated from the storm.

Though he could scarcely hear it over the perpetual roar of thunder, Qrow took note of Tyrian's ongoing laughter, still tinged with madness, and the huntsman kept a very sharp eye out for any sign of the depraved son of a bitch.

Any sane person would've called it quits and took off by now, but Tyrian was definitely not a sane person… but even so, would he really try dancing his damned way through all of this? Qrow's gut was saying that yes, yes that crazy bastard would try something like that, especially if he was still suffering from whatever effect the venom was having on him.

Alas, the constant downstream of lightning from above made it hard for him to make out much of anything that was more than several feet in front of him, but Qrow did his best because he sure as hell wasn't planning on dying like how Shay did. To die now, much less in a shit way like that, would break Tai again and Qrow couldn't even imagine how it'd impact his nieces.

So, he focused like he never has before and kept his senses sharp for any sign of Tyrian.

…There! Movement!

Qrow switched Harbinger into its gun form and opened fire through the lightning storm, firing shot after shot at Tyrian's barely perceptible form until he was out of ammo, at which point he wasted not even a single microsecond in reloading.

He did so in just the nick of time, for as soon as he'd finished reloading, the storm came to a stop just as quickly as it had formed. He didn't have to listen too carefully to hear how tired his sister was, the bandit leader panting hard as she landed somewhere behind him.

"Did I…?" she spoke after a few seconds in a hoarse voice.

Though she didn't finish, it was obvious what her question was. Qrow looked around thoroughly, his mind only barely registering the veritable wasteland Raven had made with her storm just now.

A silent two minutes went by in which he and the other surviving bandits looked around intensely before Qrow finally gave Raven an answer. "…Looks like he ran off," he said with a heavy grimace.

He could tell because the bodies of the now deceased bandits remained, albeit charred to hell and back. But even then, it was obvious that Tyrian wasn't among the deceased.

In response to his words, Raven clenched her hands into tight fists and looked around, clearly enraged by what she was seeing.

As she did so, Qrow quietly pulled out his scroll and called Oz back.

"Hey, Oz," he started, suddenly feeling tired. "Yeah, you can cancel that back-up – he ran off… and I think you've got someone here who'd like to talk with you."

His call to Oz hadn't gone unnoticed and Raven had all but literally tried to burn a hole through him through glaring alone. Given the shocking revelation she was the Spring Maiden, it wouldn't have surprised him if she could pull off a feat like that. And as his words had indicated, she looked like she wanted a mighty strong word with the Beacon headmaster.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth as she approached. "I'd very much like a word, dear brother."

Qrow tiredly surrendered his scroll to her and backed off for a minute, now glad to be able to catch his breath.

But even as he took this much needed respite, he could only look around as the surviving bandits futilely tried looking for any other survivors. Despite his obvious misgivings about them, his heart went out to them – this wasn't how anyone should ever die.

Just when in the hell was that though, he wondered? Just what kind of crazy semblance or whatever did Tyrian have?

Qrow could only imagine as to what exactly had been going on… but one thing he knew for sure was this:

The game has changed considerably… and they were all going to need to adapt fast if they want to survive it.

If there's at least one other thing he could say about this matter, it's this: Salem sure knew how to pick 'em.

* * *

Tyrian panted heavily as he slowly yet steadily came to his senses. It's been more than fifteen minutes now since his retreat from the battle against the tribe and only now was he lucid enough to assess the new developments.

His venom was without a doubt deadly, but not quite in the same sense as other venoms out there in the world. Normally, venoms work by breaking down cells or nervous systems or muscles due to whatever combination of toxins they're made of. In his case, however, his venom functions less like most other venoms in that his is essentially a naturally secreted concoction of performance enhancement drugs.

It overclocks the heart and other organs in the body, making them work that much more efficiently in order to keep people going, oxygenating the blood. In simple terms, it had a significant doping effect that improved the body's overall performance, especially speed as the venom functioned as a combination between growth hormone and crank in a way. This would seem like quite a boon provided it's handled delicately, however his venom possesses such a high concentration that even the slightest drop of it being injected or otherwise ingested in some way can overclock the target's body to the point where they will literally die in a span of ten minutes or so. The more he injects into someone, the more extreme the overclocking and the shorter the time frame is for them to die.

However, his semblance, a very mundane but ever so practical one that granted him an extremely high resistance to all known drugs, poisons and so forth made his own venom quite applicable when injected into himself.

Unfortunately, the trade off is that even then, not even he can fully endure his venom. But rather than have his own body break down from overexertion, the negative effect comes in the form of an all consuming high, turning him into a true berserker. While it is possible for him to direct himself provided he focuses hard enough on it prior to injection, once his senses are lost to him, making sure he stays consistently on task is impossible to do.

Thus his failure at his recent efforts. Had he enough sanity to guide himself properly, he very well could've taken down both Branwens thanks to a combination of his enhancements and tactics. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be.

"Ah, my goddess, how I've failed you…" he mumbled as he came to a full stop beside some thick shrubbery. Another negative effect was now presenting itself in the form of some terrible fatigue and shakes, much like how a drug addict experiences a withdrawal. It disgusted Tyrian to even remotely compare himself in any way to such pathetic cretins, but it sadly didn't make it any less true. It was hard enough as it is to keep himself from vomiting where he now sat.

Trying to stay calm, Tyrian called upon his goddess to soothe his mind and assumed as close to a meditative stance as he could manage, trying to calm himself. It took a minute, but he eventually succeeded.

After doing so, he finally bothered tending to his wounds, hissing as he did so. To think Raven Branwen was now the Maiden and had used her powers to such a high degree… were he anyone else, he'd have died.

But he lived and so long as he was alive, he'd dedicate himself to his goddess with all he has. He may have failed his overall objective, but there'd been no particular deadline on it, meaning he still had a chance to remedy this.

Poking and cutting lightly into his wounds even more to empty out all the blood that had become so tainted by his venom, the scorpion Faunus considered things, recalling how he'd came upon the encampment and what had followed.

Finding said encampment had been easy once he knew Raven Branwen had been in the area – it was hard to miss the cleared out patches of forests where the tribe had clearly set up base at in the past. He'd launched a sudden attack on those miserable bandits and had quickly cut down enough of the rubble to send the rest of the rank and file into a panicked frenzy, having taken advantage of that to continue thinning out their numbers.

Thanks to having then injected himself and going on a rampage, he knew with certainty that the oh so infamous Branwen tribe had now lost roughly 80% of their members and many of their supplies. Even when now accounting for Raven Branwen being the Spring Maiden, she'd suffered heavy losses. That meant she now had less people around with which to support her in battle… and as his goddess has demonstrated many times in the past, many of her previous subordinates had been more than capable enough of challenging and subduing a Maiden, be it through direct combat or other methods. Tyrian, at the risk of sounding arrogant, counted himself among these former brethren of his who possessed what it takes to defeat those magic using worms.

Certainly, the pragmatic bandit leader would now consider joining Ozpin's side once more, but it honestly made no difference in Tyrian's eyes – sooner or later, the idea was to deal with that parasite anyways and Hazel on his lonesome was more than enough to combat that man's entire side. Of course, the time for a direct confrontation was still a ways off, but Tyrian knew it was only a matter of time until they got what they wanted.

Should Raven join Ozpin, it would only be delaying the inevitable. And if she proves herself to be foolish enough to continue doing things on her own? Well, Tyrian would definitely enjoy making her regret such a possibility very much.

Ah, but he was digressing somewhat.

In the end, the Maidens were but mere stepping stones for her grace, tools meant to be used to obtain the Relics that have been hidden away in the kingdoms. Though he nor anyone else on his side could accurately say where the Relics were, it was obvious there was one in each of the kingdoms… and that the Maidens were just a convenient key in order to obtain them. They knew not what sort of defenses were in place to guard said objects of power, but he was absolutely certain his goddess could overcome them herself if she truly desired it. After all, as a being capable of magic herself, she would undoubtedly be capable of the same feats the Maidens could perform and to even greater degrees.

Alas, such brute force tactics were hardly the most practical, not to such degrees in any case. Thus why the Maidens were even remotely needed – to pave the way to their victory that much more smoothly. And of course, capturing the Maidens deprives that pathetic wizard of valuable trump cards that would otherwise impede them.

Yes, he may have failed his primary objective, but he's still succeeded in crippling the enemy's forces as well as ascertain what had become of the previous Spring Maiden. While it would hardly make up for his loss, it still would be a boon to the goddess' plans, regardless of what happened next.

Smiling darkly as he finished patching up his wounds and channeling his remaining aura to speed up the healing process, he procured his scroll and contacted Watts.

The man answered on the first ring. "Tyrian," the man began in a calm tone. "You've news?"

Tyrian wasted no time diving into what had happened earlier. The disgraced Atlas scientist listened without ever once interrupting.

It wasn't until he finished talking that Watts finally said anything. "I see. While unfortunate, it was indeed to our advantage – we know now what became of the Maiden… as well as have a strong idea as to what she may do next. That alone is more than enough for us to use."

"What of you?" Tyrian now asked as his tail lightly swished around. "Have you reached Vale?"

"Why, Tyrian," Watts started. The Faunus could almost literally hear the smirk in the man's voice. "Just where do you think I am calling from?"

Tyrian smirked viciously. "Will you begin soon?"

"Oh, perhaps," Watts said. "To my slight surprise, it would appear Adam Taurus' sect had adopted a different approach from their usual shows of ineffectual bravado. It's honestly so amusing that it may just delay me somewhat in carrying out my goal, if only to see how they shall play their cards. But worry not, Tyrian… this may very well work nicely with what I've already had in mind."

Watts chuckled over the scroll and it was enough to make Tyrian shiver in anticipation. This was one of the reasons why he and Watts actually got along so well. Despite their very different approaches to things as well as their mindsets, they've a certain flair for sophistication and always see things through to the very end. If the former scientist says he can use whatever commotion the White Fang is now carrying out to his advantage, then he meant it.

"Ha, Ironwood and his forces will have no idea what is going to hit them," Watts continued, clearly thinking of the Atlas general's reaction to what was to come. "I'm going to relish it very much, to see just how he'll flail about trying to deal with all that's going on. And of course, the same goes for our ancient foe as well… I'm certain our queen will find some measure of delight in seeing him squirm about as well. In the meantime, Tyrian, why not try keeping an eye on our two little birds? Find out whether or not the bandits really will join back with Ozpin. If they do, be sure to inform me – I shall prepare a wonderful surprise for them as well."

Tyrian nodded to himself eagerly. "Yes, yes… I can do that."

"Then off you go," Watts responded. "Do whatever you must to remain hidden from them, but do not lose them; while this may still work out to our advantage, repeated failures at our main objectives will never suffice."

"Yes…" On that, Tyrian was very much in agreement with him. There was always something to be gained, even from loss… however, despite his optimistic view on things, losing was hardly a lot of fun.

As he ended the call, Tyrian leaned back against a tree and chose to rest for the time being, certain that Qrow Branwen along with the tribe would be too focused on dealing with the fallout of his attack to be leaving the whole area just yet.

Already, his tail was itching to be used again… and next time around, he would not lose, not to them.

He swore it.

* * *

Hazel sat with his arms folded across his chest as he watched Watts end the call with Tyrian. His sharp ears have allowed him to pick up some of the conversation on Tyrian's side and he commented on it.

"So, Branwen is now the Maiden, hmm?"

"Indeed," Watts commented. "It's obvious she slew the previous Maiden herself to obtain that power. I have to say, I'm rather impressed; relative few can be that cold-hearted… and frightened." He laughed a little.

Though he hardly found the murder of the previous Spring Maiden – if he recalled right, she'd been roughly around Gretchen's age – Hazel was in agreement with Watts on his assessment.

Though they'd had their suspicions that the Spring Maiden had run from Ozpin to join Raven Branwen's tribe, there'd been no concrete evidence back then to support this. Had the woman chosen to call off her raids for a time and go into hiding somewhere far enough away from most towns and villages in Mistral, finding her in the first place would've taken much longer.

But instead, she killed the girl, took the power of the Maiden and continued on with things as if nothing had changed. It was rather audacious in a way, for her continued raids only made her continue to stand out and eventually resulted in them roughly locating her. And now it was known to them that she was the new Maiden. Now there was no longer any reason for them to just ignore her. Raven Branwen will now be hunted by them for the rest of her life.

"Care for some wine?" Watts suddenly said as he pulled out a bottle and a fancy looking one at that. "I can personally attest to its exquisite taste."

Hazel merely shook his head in response, but through this simple action, he made his feelings known.

Currently, the two of them were within a safe house, one Watts had long since obtained albeit never really used. Unlike most safehouses Hazel has ever seen or used which were always so dreary and sparse, this one was large and furnished to a degree that it looked as if Watts had somehow imported an entire hotel suite and had it moved elsewhere. It was more than big enough for the two of them to use and was fully stocked in everything they could ever need.

Honestly, it was enough to make Hazel feel somewhat uncomfortable even though the large chair he was sitting in ought to be the very definition of comfortable.

Shrugging at his response, Watts popped the cork and gracefully filled a glass that he procured from nearby. After doing so, he proceeded to give the now filled glass a gentle shake, letting the wine sit for a moment to continue speaking.

"Well then," he began. "I suppose it's time we update Salem on how things have gone so far. While our arrival here in Vale is far from newsworthy, the update Tyrian gave us certainly is."

"Do you think she'll alter any plans?" Hazel asked of the man, knowing that Watts often served as Salem's advisor when it came to strategy, the result of the two of them being naturally inclined when it came to long term strategy. Of course, Salem was more than capable of formulating and having them masterfully execute complex plans, but Watts' own intelligence and cunning made him useful to her in laying out the groundwork for things to come.

The former scientist shook his head before finally taking a sip of his wine. "I do not believe so. This is hardly something that would warrant any significant changes to any of our own efforts. Your identity may be known to Ozpin, but so far it would not seem to be the case for others under his thumb. It's not as if anything they throw at you will succeed anyways. Tyrian's identity may now be known to Qrow Branwen and by extension the rest of his side, but until today none had ever seen the effects of his own venom on himself in action and lived. It will be some time before they can ascertain how best to deal with Tyrian and his venom once they come to blows again. And as for myself, everyone still believes me to have died in that ridiculous prototype test I'd done… and I suppose Cinder has been doing something right since so far it doesn't seem as if she's been made by any authorities."

"You sound somewhat doubtful."

"Hmm, well, given Salem's abilities and vast knowledge, it wouldn't surprise me if she could spot something that I've failed to take note of. In any case, whether or not plans are altered, I'm prepared either way."

Hazel nodded in agreement. No matter what comes next, he knew the role he would ultimately be playing in all this. Pawn though he may be to Salem, he was by far her most powerful pawn, the one who can and will cripple Ozpin's side when needed. It didn't matter how long it took for such a time to come, but he'd relish crushing that parasite all the same.

"Then let's get to it," Hazel stated.

Watts nodded and proceeded to drink the rest of his wine in one quick and quiet gulp before setting his glass aside. He then went on to fetch his bag, which he'd brought with them this whole time.

Unceremoniously, he opened the bag and out popped a Seer, which quickly swam through the air in a manner not unlike an especially aggressive jellyfish, which it took its general shape from.

After a moment, the Seer seemed to calm down and settled into position in the very center of the room. It went deathly still and as it did, a terrible darkness began to seep out of its body. It spread across the whole room, instantly putting out all the lights and dropping the temperature to such a degree that Hazel immediately saw his breath.

But more than that, a chill entered his body and seeped down to his very soul. This was far from any sort of chill that any cold environment could ever produce. It was the result of the existence of a being so unnatural that the world around them seemed to somehow shudder in terror as a response.

The darkness took shape before his very eyes, turning into the image of the woman he'd all but literally pledged his life to for the sake of his revenge.

He stood up only to take a knee, showing his fealty. Watts did the same.

"Your grace," both said at once.

"Watts, Hazel," Salem greeted in turn. "I take it you've something to tell me?"

"I do," Watts spoke as he slowly rose. "It concerns not me nor Hazel, but rather, Tyrian. He's provided me an update just moments ago."

With that brief statement, Watts then launched into a retelling of what Tyrian had told them. As he did so, Hazel slowly stood and remained in place, eyeing the woman he served curiously.

He's been in her 'employ' for quite some time now, some odd years in fact. During his tenure, he's been studying Salem slowly but with some degree of intensity. Having had his eyes opened to the former existence of the first humankind as well as the knowledge of magic, his warrior side, a side that he'd thought had died long ago, had stirred with intrigue. He'd wondered just how well magic would do against him.

Alas, he and Salem had never once come to blows for any reason. There was no denying the twisted power she naturally radiates, to say nothing of her immortality… but even then, there was some part of him that pondered over what his odds would be of winning if somehow he ever did end up combatting her.

One thing was certain, however – having lived for so long, she's had much time to master her power… as well as learn all too well the art of pain. It was because of this that his fellows – Watts, Tyrian, and Cinder – all revered and feared her so immensely. He was more ambivalent on the matter, a result of his deadening heart, but even so, not even he would dare want to be on the receiving end of her less than tender mercies.

He watched her expression closely, curious to see her reaction to the news. To his expectations, she didn't emote particularly much. There was a bit of genuine amusement in her dark eyes, as if the news of Raven Branwen being the Spring Maiden was somehow funny to her, but beyond that the ancient witch showed no real reaction.

"I see," she said in a rather casual tone once Watts was done speaking. "That is quite the interesting bits of news."

"As you can imagine, I've told Tyrian to follow them for the time being, just to be sure of whether or not they join with Ozpin." Watts quirked an eyebrow tentatively. "…Should I call him back to belay that request?"

"No. He may proceed as you've instructed… and you two shall continue with your original goals as well. As nice of a surprise as that is, it is hardly worth changing any of our plans for – we still hold the advantage so long as we remain active. Ozpin and his circle may continue to impede us as they wish for the time being, but they can only keep up their defensive for so long," Salem replied "Nonetheless, I won't just dismiss this as nothing… in fact, I'd like you to look into something else."

Hazel exchanged a quick glance with Watts, somewhat surprised. "Of course, what would it be?" the latter asked as he was the brains of the operation.

"It's been quite some time since dear Cinder has bothered reporting in," Salem responded. "While I've granted her and the rest of you a considerable deal of autonomy, given the specific nature of her mission, she should've contacted me by now with an update."

"Ah, so you wish for me to look into her matters? Consider it done, your grace."

Salem nodded in thanks. "Good. Given all the preparations she's made for the sake of her own plans, it's clear something truly unexpected had happened. I don't feel it was Ozpin nor his forces behind said unexpectedness… so I'd appreciate it if you remain on your guard. Do not become like Cinder."

She didn't have to say any more or even do anything at all for her unspoken threat to get across. Instead, the very air itself seemed to feel colder and heavier. It was more than enough for Watts to look perturbed and even make Hazel himself a bit on edge.

"Of course, your grace. I will look into this and report back as soon as I'm able to."

Salem said nothing in response but did nod again. Then, immediately after that, her dark form dispersed and the darkness that had comprised her form dissipated entirely.

The lights in the room flickered back on as if nothing had happened and the temperature returned to what it had been before. As for the Seer, it merely bobbed up and down in place, seemingly resting as if nothing was amiss.

But of course, the same couldn't be said of the two men.

"Hmm, it would seem little Cinder had been a naughty girl indeed… in all honesty, I'd expected as much ever since her call to me that time," Watts commented, trying to regain his composure.

"I take it something had happened?" Hazel finally spoke for the first time since even greeting Salem.

"Indeed. Her original plan of entering Beacon had to be altered. She spoke not of the change in circumstances, but she'd requested of me a device that could upload the virus from a distance. Additionally, from what I understood, infiltrating Beacon like she'd initially planned had become impossible to pull off, thus she and what excuses of pawns she's gotten control of are still in Vale itself."

At that, Hazel hummed. He rarely if ever had much interest in the going-ons of his colleagues, so this was all news to him.

Unlike Watts and Tyrian who genuinely loathed and antagonized Cinder, he didn't hold much of an opinion towards her at all. However, he can easily admit to her possessing just enough skill and cunning to accomplish the goal she'd been given by Salem. That it seems like the young woman has yet to make any headway was unexpected.

…Could it be? That boy… he and his friends had most likely been from Beacon. Was he perhaps involved?

It seemed like a hell of a longshot but given the insight he had on what kind of person the boy was like, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if he had somehow been responsible for these delays and changes to Cinder's plans.

…Did that also mean that he'd survived their battle? Had he already made a recovery?

"Hazel?" Watts called out to him.

The large man blinked slowly, roused from his thoughts. "What?"

"You wandered off in your own thoughts there for a moment… I merely wished to see how exactly you'd be proceeding from here on out."

Hazel thought on that. As things currently stood, it'd be a while before it would actually be necessary for him to make a move. That meant that until then, he'd have far more free time on his hands than he knew what to do with.

But if he was right…

"Once you begin to find out what's been causing Cinder such problems, be sure to inform me first," he spoke firmly, his eyes narrowing. "I already have an inkling of _who_ might be responsible for this. And if I turn out to be right, I'll be the one to deal with him. The last thing we need is him of all people trying to interfere any further."

Watts looked at him intensely, no doubt trying to read ever deeper into his rather vague response. But after several seconds, the man seemed to drop the matter for now. "Now you've my interest piqued even further. But very well, keep your thoughts to yourself for the time being; I'm sure in due time, we'll be discussing this in greater detail anyway."

"Just focus on your new task first."

"Yes, yes, don't you worry about that. I shall begin in earnest tomorrow then. Now come – if only for a while, try to lighten up. I for one intend to fully enjoy the fruits of my labor and seeing you be so dour again is already putting a damper on my mood."

Hazel sighed. Watts was normally a rather tolerable person to be around, amicable even… but every now and then, he proved himself to be just as irritating as Tyrian and for the same reason too – they're both too obsessed with their pursuits of their vices.

…Oh well, it's not as if it'll kill him to lighten up a bit, he supposed. He could afford to wait just a day or so longer before needing to do what must be done.

"…What's the name of that wine you're drinking?"

At his somewhat reluctant response, Watts chuckled with just a bit of mirth and proceeded to grab the bottle again along with a second glass for him.

And so, the two men drank in peace for the next hour or so. It was almost enjoyable to the large man, reminiscent of far better times from very long ago, before he'd become so jaded and hateful towards the world.

He, of course, didn't dare hint at this towards Watts; last thing he needed to deal with was an even more annoying drunk right now.

* * *

 **Once again, a chapter mainly focused on our antagonists. And as you can see, things have been changed around a fair bit regarding some of these characters. Like Tyrian for instance. No idea what exactly his semblance is in canon – I highly doubt it's just simple venom – but I'd decided to take a bit of a different approach to it. I hope it was interesting for you guys and that future uses of it will prove to be entertaining in how he uses it.**

 **So, yeah, things are getting real damn tense now in Vale. A lot of plans are really beginning to overlap now and with this, things are just going to get much more tense. And we all know damn well what happens when too much pressure is applied to something, heh!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	31. Chapter 31

After what felt like way too long a time, I wrote a bit of a time-skip in my original novel and boy, what a weird feeling it was to do so. Granted, the time-skip was planned and stuff and is merely one of several, but still, how weird it felt to write my MC at a somewhat older age. I guess I must have gotten used to writing for him at a younger age somehow, heh. In any case, I'm glad that I'll finally be doing the next big thing in my novel and hopefully I won't end up dragging it out needlessly.

Now, that aside, I've really been looking forward to getting around to writing this chapter, especially after reading the reviews. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it for the most part. And to those of you worried about me making the antagonists too strong, don't worry, things will eventually begin to balance out eventually, though the antagonists will certainly not become pushovers. Such is the nature of stories like this.

Plus, in Raven's defense, Tyrian's ambush and sudden usage of his venom took her extremely off guard since it's not something she's ever really seen before – the number of people who'd ever willingly attack her tribe can be counted on one hand and Tyrian's speed and sporadic fighting style in his frenzied state made it hard for her to accurately pin him down, even with the Maiden power.

Additionally, to those worried over Jaune's role in the grand scheme of things, that will also be addressed as intended.

Now then, with that explained, onto the chapter!

P.S. Please read the AN at the end for some additional info!

Chapter 31

"How are you holding up?" Jaune asked Blake as he and his team met up with team RWBY in a room that had been temporarily provided to the B of the team in question to avoid having too many people try to haggle their actual room.

"I've been better," Blake responded with a rather brittle smile. "But all things considered, I'm just glad to not be behind bars."

"And that only makes us just slightly happier than before…" snarled out Yang from beside Blake, an action that only got her teammates to look at her reproachfully. But Ruby and Weiss also showed understanding through their facial expressions alone.

"Must have been quite a night," Pyrrha now said, a little uncertainly.

Indeed, Jaune thought. It was honestly hard to think that just yesterday, everything had been okay… and now just look at how things were like. At least the headmaster had been able to provide this room for Blake right away, though that had still left the rest of team RWBY to tell people to leave them be when they kept pestering their dorm room door all throughout the evening.

"It was a lively night," Blake admitted. "But again, I can't complain. I'll take whatever wins I can get here."

"Still can't believe general Ironwood would try to bring you into custody though," Ren said in as quiet a tone as he normally speaks in, though there was no mistaking the disbelief in his voice. "Does he even have the authority to do that?"

"As Vale lacks a proper military, general Ironwood had been granted full authority to operate as he sees fit in place of this… of course, so long as he does get permission from the council first," Weiss helpfully answered. "And in light of the bombshell dropped yesterday, well, while the council may not have been able to convene and speak with him on the matter that quickly, I can't imagine arresting a former terrorist would be viewed unfavorably by them… no offense, Blake."

The Faunus shook her head. "None taken."

"Still doesn't make him any less of an asshole about it…" Yang grumbled.

"Yang! No unneeded swearing!" Ruby chided her older sister, trying to at least do something.

"…Did the headmaster say anything else?" Jaune now asked, wanting to stay focused on the most concerning topic, that being what will be happening from here on out.

"Not really, no. I honestly can't imagine what, if anything, he can do for me at this point. But like I told him, all I can do is prove to them that I am trustworthy, that I'm… that I'm no longer the person I used to be."

At that, Jaune could only nod. As much as he desired to strike down 'evil,' he knew better than to just incapacitate or kill anyone and everyone that's done something wrong. Just because people committed crimes – of varying severity, of course – didn't necessarily make them 'evil.' The same thing applied to the White Fang as well. Wrong as their current actions may be, it was ultimately the result of being pushed to the very edge, a breaking point. Sadly, it was inevitable for them to become what they are today.

So long as they continue to remain hellbent on their current methods, he shall respond as necessary. But those, such as Blake and Tukson, who defect and now wish to turn their lives around, such people he could never view as 'evil.' It's only those that delight in the pain and deaths of others, those that would willingly and even eagerly crush anyone who gets in the way of their goals that are truly 'evil.'

These were his beliefs.

However, he was feeling just a tad bit disconcerted here. His instincts told him this was somehow the work of the White Fang, well, the sect that had tried setting Grimm loose in Vale, he'd imagine. Perhaps this was their way of trying to take revenge. Or maybe it was merely a set-up to something greater or maybe both. But in any case, they – or whoever was truly responsible, assuming his initial gut instinct was wrong – wouldn't have done so unless they were truly desperate… a state that they'd pushed them into.

Sure, life was ultimately a series of escalations… but this felt a bit much in his eyes.

"And we'll help with that too," Ruby said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We're teammates and friends – no way we're just gonna let you do this alone, Blake."

Blake smiled. "Thanks."

The others were smiling too, Jaune included now. "Of course," he started to add. "You can include us in that number."

Blake looked to him and they stared at one another for just a brief few seconds before she nodded in gratitude.

However, not long after doing so, Blake lost her smile and then sighed. "But as great as your support is… this situation really is a bad one."

And just like that, the mood had soured once more. Not that Blake could be blamed for this; it was a shitty situation, to be perfectly blunt.

With her former past now public fact, there was plenty of outcry that was practically calling for her head on a platter. Just about all the social media platforms that their generation used to get their news was blowing up over this and it was dividing people like crazy.

Some wanted Blake arrested and sentenced to prison ASAP.

Others believed this to be overblown bullshit, to paraphrase what a relative few had been saying online.

And of course, there was a third camp that would wait until things conclude to really give any opinion on the matter… assuming this does have a conclusive end at all.

"Is there anything that can be done?" Jaune immediately asked. "Or at least something that should be done?"

"Aside from helping out with the walls around Vale," Ruby quickly added.

In light of what Blake had told them all about the meeting she'd had with the headmaster and general Ironwood, she'd essentially ended up placing the burden of clearing her own name on herself. Whether or not that meant other involved parties would simply sit back and wait for something to come was unknown. Neither the headmaster nor the Atlas military general struck him as being passive, but the worst thing that he and his friends can do is do nothing.

Blake thought long and hard and they all sat back to let her think.

When she spoke, what she had to say took them all very much off guard.

"Now that I think of it… they did mention a name," she began. "I'd honestly been such a mess at the time that only now do I remember it… and if I had to hazard a guess, it doesn't seem as if the headmaster had actually meant to say it in the first place."

"Blake, what are you getting at?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Yeah!" Nora agreed, speaking up for the first time so far. She then gasped. "Is it someone we can beat up to prove our mettle?!"

Ah, good ol' Nora. Never change.

"The name was… Salem…" Blake responded. She looked at each them one by one, clearly hoping to see if the name meant anything to them.

And one by one, they all shook their heads.

Indeed, they all could now only share confused looks with one another. The name rang no bells at all.

"Salem…" Jaune muttered the name slowly, as if trying to test out how it sounded. "No last name?"

Blake shook her head.

He narrowed his eyes as he thought hard now, focusing so intensely that he unconsciously tuned out the others as they began to talk amongst themselves about this odd development.

Salem… that wasn't exactly a common name. Well, granted, taking history into account, names have been quite unique for several generations now, a sign of showing uniqueness and diversity. But even then, the name didn't follow any particular pattern like most names generally did now.

…Come to think of it, the same could be said of the headmaster's name… but that was probably just a coincidence.

"You said the headmaster just mentioned that name offhand?" Pyrrha spoke up, getting Jaune's attention.

"Yeah. It was clearly said in the heat of the moment. What with the general practically breathing down my neck as well as his, it's clear that the headmaster hadn't really intended to say it… I wonder if he even realized he'd said it in the first place." Blake looked intensely thoughtful.

"Well," Weiss started. "It's not as if it's any business of ours, yes? I mean, it's just a name, a name and nothing more. And going by what you told us, it's clearly something meant to be private between the headmaster and general Ironwood."

"But Weiss, just what else should we do?!" Ruby nearly whined.

"More like what else can we even do?" Yang grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "Sure, we can go help out at the walls, but just how long would we have to do that to get the public to quiet the hell down and leave Blake alone? Probably not that quickly."

Her snark aside, she did make a point. Minds were rarely changed so easily, especially not on a grand scale.

"Even so," Ren began, serving as the voice of reason alongside Weiss. "It seems to be this Salem is a private matter between the headmaster and general. To try and look into it would be a huge breach of trust. We as students have no business in this matter, whatever it may be."

Weiss nodded in full agreement. "Even if we ignore the issue of ethics and privacy here, just what can we even do? All we know is a name and nothing more. There's no starting point to even work with here… and even then, should we really even try pursuing this issue? Considering the number of incidents we've been involved in already, should we really be going around potentially causing even more trouble?"

Judging by the lack of response from Ruby and Yang, it seemed to Jaune as if they didn't have any real counterargument there. And sparing a glance to his own team, it seemed Pyrrha was also on the fence about this discussion. As for Nora, she clearly looked disappointed to not be going on what she was assuming to be some grand adventure, but she was dutifully following Ren's lead.

As for himself… just what did he think?

He closed his eyes for a moment and massaged the scar on his face.

Like his friends had clearly surmised, based on the context given, this Salem was obviously a person of considerable interest to the headmaster and general, though in what way was unknown. And call it his gut, but something about this name… it felt 'evil,' weird as it sounded to even himself to even think such a thing.

…

…

…Perhaps… perhaps he was just being paranoid. His instincts were sharp, yes, but not infallible. There have been some times in the – admittedly distant – past where he'd been wrong. Experience has taught him how to temper himself to a degree, but even then, his instincts still screamed at him to look into this.

But as Weiss and Ren had pointed out, there was absolutely nothing to work with here. Who knows how long it'd be before some kind of lead could turn up? Of course, this wasn't even getting into the breach of trust and privacy here.

…First thing first, though; they had to focus on Blake's situation.

"Let's try not to deviate so much from the original topic," he said in a placating manner.

"But, Jaune, aren't you interested?" Ruby asked.

"I am," he replied immediately. "But like Weiss and Ren said, ignoring the issue of ethics here, there's really nothing we can do for the time being. And before you can think of asking Tukson, he already has his hands full with the White Fang monitoring. Trying to divide his efforts between two very different things can be a huge mistake."

"E-Erk…"

"I have to say, this is somewhat unlike you, Jaune," Pyrrha said. "I mean, normally, anything of such interest would have you looking into it… but I understand. The mere thought of looking into something so private… it's just…"

He nodded in understanding. "It's wrong. And again, we're getting too off topic here. Let's try and think of other things here that'll help Blake out more immediately."

"And what about the name?" Blake asked, curious.

"…" Jaune once again made an unidentifiable sound. He'd be lying if he said his curiosity hadn't been piqued, but again, there really wasn't much that could be done about this. "For now, all we can do is just leave it be. If the headmaster realizes his slip-up and tries to contact you about it, well, then we'll go from there, but if not, trying to step on his and the general's toes by going around their backs like this isn't going to help your current predicament."

Blake could only nod in agreement.

From there, the conversation slowly got back on track…

…But even then, Jaune could still feel something off about the name of Salem. Alas, it was going to have to wait until later before it can be looked into.

But maybe something will turn up to change things on that.

* * *

Arthur Watts was a man of many talents, a detail he had no problem making known to his colleagues.

However, despite his occasional penchant for bragging, he liked to opt more for demonstrations of his skills rather than merely boasting of them with words alone.

Such as now, for example.

The rings he wore upon his fingers were his tools, his instruments with which he weaved beautiful orchestras of delicate chaos. Back in Atlas and especially Mantle, whose security grid he wrote the entire code for, his hold over their systems was supreme, absolute.

Here in Vale, this was far less so. Nonetheless, hacking into Vale's various systems was little more than child's play to him. And so, with access to the many cameras spread throughout the kingdom, he'd begun his research, both into what Cinder had been up to and into the individual that had so piqued Hazel's interest.

As he did so, he was effortlessly digging up any and every file worth mentioning within the Vale Police Department's online systems, comparing the details noted within them to the recordings found within the cameras.

Cinder was good at what she did, loathe as he was to ever give her such praise, but she lacked much in the ways of finesse when compared to him, of course. Certainly, her methods were enough to keep her hidden from unwanted eyes, but that didn't make her nor her lackeys completely invisible to cameras and the other technology here in Vale that he could gain access to.

Oh, it wasn't as if he was watching her carry out her plan on screen or anything – obviously, whatever power plays she's been making were well behind the scenes – but it wasn't as if she and those pathetic would-be enforcers of hers could sneak around every camera there is. Even if he was only watching them walk down the street and picking up something to eat, they were still there, albeit these were recordings taken from weeks ago, before Cinder's plan had started to fall off its fickle rails.

"Hmm." He hummed thoughtfully as he worked, slowing down ever so slightly to more closely observe details that he might have otherwise missed.

Between Salem's command and Hazel's request, the former obviously took priority… but as he was swiftly learning here, it would seem that the two initially separate tasks were intertwined.

Having been provided a description of the individual in question by Hazel, Watts had been all too quick in identifying him thanks to a combination of camera footage and some receipts here and there from purchases made within Vale.

And as he'd gone about looking into what exactly Cinder and the White Fang had been up to, he'd been able to look into the police reports on those incidents that had been caused… and noticed certain names pop up multiple times in each report.

It would seem the teams RWBY and JNPR, clearly originating from Beacon, were of high interest now, given the level of involvement they'd had in previous incidents.

Pictures had obviously been taken for documentation, including any and all injuries suffered… especially that of one Jaune Arc following the incident at the docks quite some time ago.

"Oho, how interesting," the former Atlas scientist muttered to himself, going as far as to even rub his chin in deep thought.

It was clear from the description given that this Jaune Arc was the one Hazel spoke of and had fought back at the now former town of Sol. That a boy so young had presented any kind of challenge to the man… that sort of power and skill was a definite anomaly. Watts would even go as far as to say that it was truly monstrous.

And as he was swiftly learning, it would seem this Jaune Arc and his fellow trainees had been quite a busy bunch in more recent weeks, busy enough and just successful enough at what they'd been doing so far to cause Cinder's initial plans to falter.

Well now, perhaps he had been just a bit too harsh on the young woman – if someone of a caliber great enough to even remotely trouble Hazel had interfered in her plans then it would make perfect sense for the woman to have to change things up. That Roman Torchwick, having been one of Cinder's more recent and notable lapdogs, had perished in the paladin incident against him spoke volumes. That the paladin itself had also been ruined beyond repair also said something significant.

"With this in mind… just what to do now, I wonder." Watts' interest was genuinely raised now, able to see the significance in Hazel's concerns, especially since he'd just confirmed the young Arc's status. Thanks to just how precious every piece of technology is to the kingdoms for the sake of their safety, bullheads travelling in and out of the kingdoms are logged as they come and go, a transponder on them allowing relevant facilities to easily monitor said bullheads and assess the number of passengers upon them as well as any cargo they may be carrying.

And sure enough, there was a record of a bullhead returning to Vale not long after the events at Sol, with Jaune Arc and his team aboard the vessel.

The boy had survived a battle with Hazel and was clearly doing well since there were also much more recent footage of him along with numerous other Beacon students patrolling the streets in light of Cinder's failed Breach plan.

For now, it seemed the boy and those other meddlesome students were going about their daily lives now, if only due to the necessity of keeping the peace in Vale. But considering the fact team JNPR and RWBY appear to be friends as well as what the White Fang had done recently – putting the spotlight on a former member of theirs – perhaps it would be only a matter of time until they try to meddle in affairs well beyond their capabilities like before.

Speaking of the White Fang though…

Watts hummed in amusement as he looked over the physical files he'd received. Though hacking and inventing were more his bread and butter, he also had a network of informants that he occasionally called upon when there were intranets that he naturally couldn't get to.

Having one within Vale's major news network certainly had its benefits, for the informant had provided him a copy of the 'email with an unknown sender' that someone at the network had received in addition to copies of the files that had been attached to said email as well. From there, he'd worked his magic and discovered it came from a dummy account that he recognized as one some sects of the White Fang sometimes used.

"Hmph, I see what they're planning." He chuckled as he looked over one Blake Belladonna's past records, records that he supposed were impressive by some standards. Didn't mean much in the long run though.

"Well then, seeing as the two of them are presumably friends, will this mean our resilient Mr. Arc will try something in desperation to spare Belladonna this anguish? No… perhaps not in the manner I'm thinking of… he seems to be fond of taking initiative, but not in a truly reckless manner like others would," he mumbled to himself, trying to anticipate the future.

So immersed was he in his thoughts that he didn't notice Hazel walk up behind him until the man's shadow was practically looming over him.

"Watts. You already found something?" the man asked.

"Hmm? Oh, already back from your little walk? How was your stroll through Forever Falls?" Watts replied amicably.

The larger man had stepped out earlier and had taken a very roundabout way through Vale to get to Forever Falls, a trek that had taken most of the day already. The purpose of this little trip had been to get a general feel of Vale's back alleys and the like, just in case they had to be used as well as to better pinpoint the more obscure cameras. Additionally, Hazel had personally wished to scout out the perpetually red forest to begin sowing his seeds among the minds of the Grimm there as well as seeing for himself just how far Beacon's security may possibly extend.

All so that when it came time, they could raid Beacon most effectively and try locating the Relic of Choice, which obviously had to be at or around Beacon – no way Ozpin would dare put the Relic somewhere too far out of reach of either himself or his allies.

Alas, Hazel didn't comment and merely narrowed his eyes instead.

Watts chuckled and held up his hands in a placating manner. "As fate would have it, the one you spoke of had indeed survived in one piece and had since then been quite active within Vale itself, either helping with patrolling the streets or slaying the Grimm that have been attacking the walls ever since the Breach. And it would also seem he's the one behind Cinder's change in plans."

"So, he really was related to all this…" Hazel grimaced as he backed off.

"Indeed. I must say, though I've only done a cursory study of him and his actions so far, he's really grabbed my attention. Much like you, he would appear to be an anomaly of sorts, an aberration. The kind of power he possesses is just as unnatural for the norm as yours is." Watts leaned back in his chair as he swiveled it around so that he may better face Hazel.

"What are the odds of him somehow interfering in what's going on now?"

"Hmm. If you're referring to the White Fang's obvious scheme, I'd say quite high; he and his team appear to be close to the Belladonna girl, thus when those pathetic terrorists do attempt to take the girl's life, he'll naturally intervene. If you're referring to our plans, that's much harder to say. Trying to look at things from his perspective, I can't imagine there being any hints at all to our presence nor our plans at all, not our own nor Cinder's… but I can tell that my words aren't putting you at ease. Care to tell me your worries?"

Hazel sighed as he took a seat. "It's not quite something I can put into words, not easily… but that boy… he's a slave."

Watts quirked an eyebrow, confused. "A slave? To whom or what?"

"I don't know the root of it all, but the boy needs to be a 'hero.' Not 'wants' to be one, no, he _needs_ to be a hero. It's his only guiding light. He may take note of everything around him, may even end up acting like any other boy his age, but that's all ultimately in his periphery vision. To try and oppose this desire of his would be like going against his own existence. And so, he'll just keep on going. Even if it takes him an eternity, he'll still keep going. It's the only thing he can ever do."

Watts said nothing for a whole minute, taking his time digesting what his ally was telling him. "So, in a way, it's similar almost to Salem's and Ozpin's predicaments?"

He was referring to the aforementioned two's curses. The former, cursed with eternal life, unable to ever die. The latter, cursed to reincarnate without end once his new life was extinguished.

Hazel could only shrug slightly. "In a manner of speaking. Not an actual curse per say… but in practicality, it might as well be. He'll never know anything else at this rate… and because of that, he'll never be a hero. Just a slave."

There was a quiet harshness in the man's words that took Watts aback, but the man hid his surprise well. As much as he'd like to continue this conversation, he and Hazel still had jobs to do. Thus, they'd have to focus on the more relevant aspects here.

"Then it would be safe to assume he will try and interfere with our plans," Watts said. "Honestly, I can't fathom how that would actually happen – he knows absolutely nothing of our existences, much less Cinder's or Salem's – but if he really is as relentless as you're clearly hinting at, then we should operate under the assumption he and his friends will somehow bump into us… well, I suppose contrived coincidences are a thing in reality."

It took a few seconds, but Hazel did nod in agreement. "Even if the boy himself has no way of learning of us being here, he is a student at Beacon, right?"

"Right," Watts confirmed. And just like that he saw the man's verbally unstated point.

Ozpin was a man that liked to keep things very close to the vest, understandable given the number of times he's been abandoned or backstabbed in his past lives by supposed allies from what Watts could surmise from tales told to him by Salem. However, if there was a possibility that Jaune Arc could prove useful, it wouldn't be a surprise if Ozpin approaches the boy and lets him know just enough to steer him in whatever direction he pleases.

That Ozpin had most likely been the one responsible for team JNPR taking on the mission to Sol said enough. Sure, it'd been the only time the ever-weakening wizard seemed to use the boy and his teammates as pawns, but there was always a next time.

"Well, in your opinion, what do you believe the odds are of Ozpin approaching him?" Watts opted to ask. As the brains of the operation, the more information he had, then obviously the better things will be on his end. If it was possible to know just how and when exactly Jaune Arc could be sent out as one of Ozpin's new pawns for good, then that would do them a world of good to know these details. "Moreover, what are the chances of Arc accepting what the man could possibly tell him?"

"If it's for the sake of saving more people, it wouldn't surprise me if he accepts right away," Hazel began. "But even then… I saw it in his eyes near the end of our battle. A slave he may be, but he's aware of this fact. It's small right now, but perhaps he might actually start truly thinking for himself now and do things his way. To answer your initial question, though, hard to say."

Watts silently accepted his ally's words. Made sense to him. "Then if we are to eventually deal with him…?"

"Once things are underway and the chaos begins, he'll naturally leap into the fray, regardless of what he may possibly know by then… and remember – when that happens, I'll be the one to take care of him," Hazel answered in a firm tone. There was a sense of terrifying resolve and power now in those eyes of his, great enough to make the entire room suddenly feel far too small in Watts' opinion. And dare the man even say it, for a split second, it looked as Hazel's eyes changed for just a fraction of a second. "I'll finish what I'd started in Sol."

"…Very well then," Watts responded, trying to keep his cool. "In that case, let us truly begin in earnest. If this is to work, we've no choice but to reach out for Cinder. Originally, I'd have simply done as Salem said and leave things be, but just to ensure our own plans remain on schedule, we'll need to actually link up with her first. At least with the White Fang's antics taking the stage for now, going out and meeting her shouldn't be hard to pull off."

If nothing else, Watts figured, Cinder and her subordinates can serve as good distractions. It wasn't as if Cinder herself was actually _needed_ for anything, despite what Salem had told the girl otherwise. And considering there was a wielder of the silver eyes among the teens associated with Jaune Arc, well, he supposed Cinder could be steered in the girl's general direction and rid them of another potential pest.

The plan had always been for Cinder to infiltrate Beacon, disable the CCT, and then bring about enough chaos to warrant a full-blown Grimm siege on Vale during the Vytal Festival. During that time, Salem herself would storm the kingdom with them at her side to effectively wipe out Ozpin, Ironwood and his fleet, and all others in the way, an action that would effectively cripple whatever remnants there'd be of Vale's forces afterwards in addition to striking a hard blow against Atlas' military. Then, with the CCT down, the other kingdoms would be none the wiser to what was actually going on, which would give them more than enough time to search for the Relic of Choice and then move onto the next kingdom.

Rinse, lather, repeat, just like that.

Ah, and of course, he'll be making especially sure that James would die by the end of all this, but only after obtaining what he personally wanted first.

In any case, this should have been simple, but as he'd learned today, that clearly wasn't meant to be. No plans ever do survive first contact, it seemed. But while he now had several more concerns than he did before, Watts wasn't too worried. Hazel had affirmed he'd be the one to deal with Jaune Arc and the White Fang's plans for Belladonna will come in handy as a good smokescreen.

He wouldn't dare say that things were ideal, but they were as ideal as things could be and that alone meant a lot.

Thus, without another word spoken to Hazel, Watts turned back around so that he was facing his various monitors and files and began his work again.

* * *

In the time following Qrow's blood-chilling call yesterday, Ozpin had experienced a hell of a fright, one greater than anything he's felt in many years. It hadn't been until the following call some odd minutes after that that he'd been able to slow his pulse down. The same went for James too, who'd been there during both calls.

But while it was good to know Qrow was still alive and kicking, the news that accompanied the second call had left the headmaster shocked all over again. Even now, a whole day later, he was still honestly feeling stumped.

Raven was now the Spring Maiden. The woman herself had killed the previous one to obtain such power. In all his many lives, Ozpin had grown all too accustomed to the horrors that humanity can and will commit… but the killing of so young a child would always leave him reeling.

No doubt, this was due to what had become of his own children throughout the lives he's led…

…He had to stop this. He needed to focus.

In any case, he had to be thankful that Raven hadn't been taken by Tyrian Callows. Had that madman actually been able to capture Raven and hold her captive long enough to make it to the vault, the Relic of Knowledge would've been forever lost to Salem. Even if he'd already used up one question to stay ahead of Salem last time, two questions were still more than enough for the woman's purposes. And it wasn't as if she couldn't just wait out the time needed for all three questions to be available again.

Furthermore, Raven had agreed to side with him once more, if only for the safety of herself and the remaining bandits from the decimated tribe. And, of course, for payback against Salem and her forces, futile as that would be to achieve.

And for once, James hadn't been against it, at least not that much. Ozpin supposed such a close call had left the general feeling too rattled to be too angry over Raven joining with them again, though it went without saying that the man would have his misgivings when this issue came back up.

Alas, that would be a bridge that would have to be crossed once it actually came up. Until then, having a united front mattered much more.

"I can't believe how foolish I'd been," he said to himself within the solitude of his own office.

Despite knowing firsthand how important the Maidens were, he couldn't bare simply keeping each and every one of them confined for their own safety, to say nothing of the impracticality of such a thing anyways. Because he'd allowed Amber and the now previous Spring Maiden so much free reign, the two young women had paid dearly for it. The latter was dead and gone and it would only be a matter of time until Amber joined her too, so weak was her remaining life force.

At least the Winter Maiden was being held without issue back in Atlas, but that's due to a combination of the woman's naturally demure personality and her increasingly frail constitution.

As for the Summer Maiden, well, she was still doing well the last he heard. That was another one he'd granted too much freedom to, but in his defense this time around, she was the strongest of the current generation of Maidens. He doubted even Raven could defeat her if the two were to ever clash. Sadly, because the woman was given so much freedom, getting in contact with her was essentially impossible for the time being. At least Salem's forces couldn't track her down either just yet.

But more than just his screw-up with the Maidens, he'd still been acting far too passively. Aside from having his inner circle's respective sources looking into potential leads and beefing up security as needed, he'd yet to actually do much of anything. Certainly, he'd sent out team JNPR on that mission, but it ultimately only confirmed what he'd already suspected anyways, so it wasn't too big a reward for the risk involved.

Looks like he'd have to speak to James again about what to do next. And rather than just discuss their immediate plans, they will really have to try and hash out a solid long-term plan for combatting Salem.

Ozpin suddenly sat up in his chair, his tired eyes now wide open.

"Oh no…" he muttered in a moment of genuine horror.

During all the 'excitement' Qrow's calls had caused, he'd forgotten one critical mistake-.

-He'd mentioned Salem's name to James during their argument yesterday… in front of Ms. Belladonna.

He stood up now but was unsure of what to do in this moment. The young girl was too secretive a person, a combination of her natural personality and her term during the White Fang, to just go around casually mentioning Salem's name to others… but the same couldn't be said of her friends, whom he didn't doubt for even a second the girl had told.

But… could there perhaps be a chance the girl hadn't realized his horrible slip-up due to being so overwhelmed by emotion herself? It was a hell of a hope to have, but not one entirely out of the realm of possibility…

…

Damn it all, there's no way the Ms. Belladonna didn't hear Salem's name. That meant both teams RWBY and JNPR now knew of Salem's name.

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful, he thought in a self-depreciative tone. Just how many more mistakes, big and small, will he end up making during his innumerable lives before he truly does learn his lesson.

So, just how exactly to address this and minimize the damage? If there is even a slight chance they may not have caught on, then it obviously wouldn't do to come out and ask them if they heard of Salem's name. But if they did, he can't just tell them to drop the matter; both teams are far too adventurous, given how the outings of some of their members were what led to some of the incidents that had happened in recent memory. Trying to tell them to forget about it would only be encouraging them to get involved.

But…

Ozpin narrowed his eyes in thought and gripped his cane tightly in the process.

From the start, both teams had already been of significant interest to him. Ruby Rose naturally held his interest by sheer virtue of being a silver haired warrior just like her mother was and Pyrrha Nikos' strength, skill, and temperament was already making her like the ideal candidate for the position of the next Fall Maiden… and then there was Jaune Arc too.

But as necessary as their potential power may one day be, could he in good faith go and even consider bringing them into the fold this early? No, he couldn't. Ignoring for the umpteenth time the moral issues here, there was just no way to accurately predict how things would go. Now, while wild cards can sometimes prove incredibly helpful, in the war against Salem these days, it was too risky to bet on so many unknown factors.

Ozpin sighed, wracking his brain for solutions.

Nothing was forthcoming… but it still didn't change what he had to do.

He exited his office and took the elevator down, immediately heading for the room he'd situated Ms. Belladonna in.

And no sooner than when he'd reached the hallway the room was situated in…

"Headmaster?"

* * *

"Headmaster?" Jaune called out as he spotted the man in question appear out of the corner of his eyes. He was mildly surprised by the headmaster's sudden visit.

The man also seemed a little surprised to see him there, but he nonetheless smiled in greeting, albeit tiredly. "Mr. Arc. I take it things are well for you and your team this evening?"

He and his team had just been taking their leave for the evening while the members of team RWBY remained inside with Blake. Thanks to the sheer thickness of the walls and the door, he doubted any of them could overhear them.

"So far, yes. We were just about to return to our own dorm for the night. Have you come to check on Blake?" he replied and asked.

The older man nodded. "While I don't doubt her emotional resiliency, I felt it best to stop by and see for myself how she'd held up this past day."

Jaune could only nod.

"She seems okay, headmaster," Pyrrha spoke up from beside him. "Though, as you'd expect, the news is still taking its toll on her…. Is there anything that can be done about it?"

The headmaster sighed. "I'm afraid there's really not much that can be done right now, no. Aside from releasing statements that counter the more… vindictive comments being made by the public, there's no real way to just make everyone forget what had occurred. Though general Ironwood had been gracious enough to grant her a reprieve, the same sadly can't be said of the council."

At that, Jaune could literally feel his friends tense up. "Will she be called before the council?" Ren asked.

"…Most likely, yes. They've already made such a request, but I'd been doing what I can to ward them off for now. However, my protection can only last for so long – my authority as headmaster does not extend to Vale," the man answered in a somewhat dry tone.

"Will Blake be receiving any help during that time? Is there any chance we can help in some way?" Jaune immediately asked.

They'd done their best to figure something out, up to and including trying to contact Tukson and maybe get him to look into the matter, assuming he wasn't already doing just that, but sadly there wasn't much they could come up with. Unlike the docks incident, where there'd been physical clues that can be directly followed given time, the same can't be said of this particular incident. There was no physical lead to go after nor did they have the resources needed to look into Vales News Network and find out where exactly the email came from.

…Well, Jaune supposed that if Weiss contacted her father and got some hackers or something hired, then maybe it would be possible, but the girl had made it clear that her relationship with her father wasn't exactly good. Plus, the man definitely had a lot of ill will towards not just the White Fang but Faunus in general. The day he ever willingly does anything to help any Faunus, much less a former White Fang member, will be the day the world spontaneously implodes.

Not that it was really needed, Jaune figured; it was obviously the White Fang behind this, no doubt trying to get some sort of revenge for their failed Breach plan. Not to mention this is sowing even more chaos amongst the populace, so two birds with one stone.

"Hmm, can't say anything is coming to mind," the headmaster answered. "But the council will no doubt announce when Ms. Belladonna is brought before them for questioning. I cannot imagine the public simply sitting by for that, no matter how well we may try to speedily and quietly get her to the council's chambers within Vale."

"Then we can serve as guards for her, if need be," Jaune immediately suggested.

The headmaster quirked an eyebrow in response, but nothing more. He may not exactly be saying that it was good idea, but the fact that he didn't immediately dismiss the suggestion hinted it was indeed a viable option.

"Yeah! Just like fearless leader said!" Nora exclaimed in support. It was a good thing this particular wing of the dorms were long since abandoned, being old dorms that had just barely been renovated or else her loud voice would've made everyone jump out of their skin. "We could pummel anyone that tries touching a hair on her adorable cat ears!"

Jaune's mouth twitched upwards for the briefest of seconds. Leave it to Nora to say something random like that.

The headmaster seemed somewhat amused too. "Well, I wouldn't say such a duty would give you free reign to do _that_ , Ms. Valkyrie… but your enthusiasm to help is appreciated. Now, I believe I've taken up enough of your time, you lot; you look tired. I'd suggest getting some rest."

Though done smoothly enough, Jaune could sense the sudden dismissal for what it was.

He and his friends shared an all too quick look amongst themselves, positioning themselves in such a way that it would seem as though they were just turning around to actually leave.

But while his friends did look ready to leave, they shot him another quick glance that practically told him to go ahead with what they really wanted to do.

So, that's exactly what he did.

"Just one quick question, sir," Jaune started, still more or less facing the headmaster's way.

The conversation about the name of Salem… despite his best efforts to keep himself and his friends focused on Blake's situation, the topic of their talking had eventually turned back to the odd name near the end there, just before they'd left the room.

It was quite a risk to go and bring it up with the headmaster – not because they feared the man will attack them or anything, but rather that it was clearly a confidential matter. To even try and hint at them knowing could very well bring about consequences that could impede their future efforts at what really mattered to them.

But even so… well, Jaune supposed it was better to get this over with now rather than just let things stew unnecessarily.

"Will anyone by the name of Salem be present during the council's questioning of Blake?"

There, he'd gone and said it. Of course, what little context Blake had provided them had been more than enough to know that this Salem was unrelated to the council completely, but better to word it this way just to be sure.

And sure enough…

It was so terribly slight, so quick in action and so microscopic in scope that even Jaune himself somewhat doubted what he'd just seen… but he would swear he just saw the headmaster tense up fiercely for all of a microsecond.

"No, I can't say anyone by that name will be involved in the matter," the headmaster said in a perfectly even tone.

Jaune nodded. "I see. Thank you." He then bid the man a good night and took his leave, his friends walking alongside him.

It wasn't well until they'd gotten back to their dorm that any of them even dared to speak.

"Whelp, looks like there's some shady stuff going on, after all," Nora, of all people, commented. She looked as serious as Jaune had ever seen her be.

"It would look that way, but… even then, there's not really anything we can do about it, right? Of course, not that I think we should be getting involved in what's clearly a private issue here," Pyrrha chipped in. "What do you think, Jaune? Ren?"

It was Ren that went first while Jaune thought deeply on the matter. "…I'm still of the same opinion as you, Pyrrha. Whatever this is about, it doesn't seem like something we should be trying to involve ourselves in. Even _if_ we do try to look into the matter anyways, all we have is a name… and one that sounds so rare that I doubt there's anything that could be found out about whoever this Salem is."

Pyrrha then looked to him and quite intently at that too.

Jaune once again touched his scar before speaking. "…Personally," he started. "I feel something really off about this name. Something about it… it just resonates with me, somehow. But as we've already noted, there's really nothing that can be done about it – we don't have anywhere near enough info to reliably work with."

"Sooooo….? What does that mean, leader? We're just gonna try and ignore the clearly juicy gossip going on here?" Nora asked. "For all we know, this could be some secret spy stuff going on! How can we possibly just stay outta that?!"

Despite how excited she was _trying_ to sound, it was clear to them all that Nora was putting up an act now. She was curious about this, to say the least, but she too realized how serious an issue this appeared to be. Perhaps she and the others had been able to see the headmaster's reaction to his question too.

"For now, all we can do is drop it," Jaune declared.

"But," Pyrrha replied. "If somehow we do find out more information about this mystery person…?"

"…Then we'll start looking into it," Jaune answered firmly. "But only if or when we do get more details. Pyrrha, please believe me when I say going around the headmaster's back like this doesn't make me happy, but even so, something about this name is unsettling me for some reason. I don't know if I'll be able to just let this slide if we do get a viable lead."

Pyrrha's expression was a complicated one. Despite all that's happened since the start of the year, she was still in many ways the same person she was when they first met. This was a good thing, of course, but she was still very much too considerate of things.

Not that he was any different. Alas, his semblance's mental pollution was really egging him on now.

"…Fine," the redhead said after a moment. "But if we do ever pursue this, I'd very much like to not go too far with this – there's no telling what could be waiting in store for us."

"I'm afraid I can't make any promises about that," Jaune said truthfully. "But I understand. We'll do what we can."

It really wasn't much, but it did placate Pyrrha somewhat as well as Nora. Ren merely nodded in quiet understanding, but whatever deep thoughts his fellow male was having on his response was unknown. At least his team still seemed united on the matter.

And so, with this issue put to rest for the time being, the four of them opted to go to bed early.

They all had the feeling that the next few days were going to feel exceptionally long. They were going to need to be as well-rested as could be for anything that could and will happen.

One by one, they all fell asleep after freshening up.

Jaune was the last to fall asleep as was something of a tradition by this point.

But before he drifted off to the land of dreams, a sense of foreboding filled him and he unconsciously tensed up as he started to sleep.

Though he didn't quite know it himself just yet, he was already preparing for what was coming.

* * *

In light of the White Fang's recent actions, Cinder was finding herself feeling almost amused. But more than that, she was even feeling downright jubilant in a way.

This new scheme, no doubt concocted by Adam and some of his more intelligent subordinates, may very well serve as the cover needed for her and her own subordinates to swoop in and rid themselves of the people that had caused her plans to deviate so much.

It was certainly much earlier than expected, but she cannot complain. As much as she'd resigned herself to waiting patiently for the Vytal Festival to approach, now was as good a time as any to kill one Jaune Arc and his friends before they could somehow interfere with her plans again.

Besides, it was getting rather annoying to deal with an increasingly impatient Neo. So this ought to put the diminutive girl in a much more pleasant mood.

However, her good mood didn't last for very long as Emerald came to her out of the blue.

"Uhm, ma'am?"

"What is it?" Cinder asked of her, her rising spirits now plummeting at record speeds simply by looking at the troubled expression on the girl's face.

"We've… We've just received two visitors. They're here to speak with you," the girl said rather nervously.

That got her attention right away.

They were currently in a safe house that had been prepared quite some time in advance. Naturally, it was completely off the books, which only made it that much more alarming that two 'visitors' could find her temporary base like this.

"Who are these visitors?" she demanded, her eyes beginning to light up as she subtly channeled the partial power of the Maiden. She was prepared to do away with these 'visitors' as quickly as possible should they prove to be anything less than cordial.

Emerald glanced down the hallway she'd come from and silently moved aside to make room for whomever was clearly waiting out of sight…

…And upon seeing who the 'visitors' were, Cinder lost focus of her smoldering power and looked in shock.

"Come now," Watts said as he and Hazel entered her room. The man was every bit as arrogant as always. "Did you really think finding you would be difficult for me? You ought to know better by now, Cinder."

The woman now narrowed her eyes as she regained her wits. "Leave, Emerald. Do not bother us until we call for you."

The girl looked ready to protest that command but thought better of it and left albeit reluctantly.

Several seconds went by before any of them spoke. "Watts," Cinder started. "What are you and Hazel doing here?"

"Should it not be obvious? Salem's plan, of course, a plan that your own designs were supposed to better set the stage for."

Cinder did her best to not twitch, but the man's unspoken jab very much got under her skin. "Then I take it you two are here on her orders to support me?"

Though she wouldn't say so aloud, having these two here would be a significant boon, especially Hazel.

"Not exactly," Watts answered as he surveyed her quarters and clearly found them lacking to his ridiculous standards. "Initially, we'd been commanded to merely see how things were going on your end. However, after reviewing all the details, I felt it best for us to get directly involved. To merely wait around would risk upsetting the plan her grace had so carefully laid out and that wouldn't do."

Cinder grimaced. She knew well what the plan was, but she hadn't realized until now just how tight the timetable had become. As much as Watts riled her, he made the right call by coming to her.

"I suppose that we've no choice but to work together," she stated. "Very well. Stomaching your presence will be doable so long as it achieves the desired results. I take it you already have something in mind?"

Watts smirked. "I do indeed… and I believe you'll wholeheartedly support my 'suggestions.' Tell me, Cinder, how badly do you want to be rid of a certain blond teenager…?"

* * *

 **Aaaannnnnd done! Man, I just realized how quickly this chapter was done after the previous one. Hopefully I can keep this pace up. Wish me luck!**

 **Now, some things to briefly explain/discuss.**

 **Firstly, I've noticed some of you guys worried that Jaune was becoming too passive and would end up marching to Ozpin's tune. I hope this chapter will put you at ease with the content provided. From the start, he was never going to be Ozpin's pawn – he would always ultimately do his own thing, but you have to realize that unlike Ozpin who has plenty of resources and information at his disposal to base his decisions on, Jaune doesn't. With so little to go on, simply going out there and looking for trouble won't do any good if he doesn't even know what to look for. It's not as if he's going to stumble across clues to Salem and her forces during his outings into Vale or on some missions. So, yeah, hope this chapter provides the explanation needed and that his actions this time around make you hopeful.**

 **Also, regarding the plan brought up in Watt's segment, please know that this plan is only what Watts knows of. It is not in any way the entirety of Salem's plan for Vale much less the rest of the kingdoms.**

 **On that particular note, I'm honestly surprised such a plan wasn't executed in canon – with so many named and thus important characters all grouped up in Vale, had Salem committed her forces to Vale, they could've taken down Beacon along with all of its staff and student body, thereby heavily crippling their fighting forces, to say nothing of also being able to take out a significant portion of Atlas' fleet. I mean, think about it – if they'd done this, RWBY, JNPR and all the other students would be dead, so no more silver eyes or anything. The staff of Beacon would be dead and while Ozpin would just reincarnate anyways, he'd be short on allies. Plus, if Ironwood and the fleet he brought with him get taken out, Atlas suffers a heavy blow too.**

 **Additionally, with the CCT down, the other kingdoms wouldn't know what exactly happened (not like they'd be able to mount a solid offensive against Salem's legions of Grimm anyways), thereby giving Salem the time needed to locate the Relic of Choice and prepare her forces again, at which point they could just go to Atlas, destabilized from losing a solid portion of their forces and Ironwood, and just do what she's currently doing in canon, obtain the Relic of Destruction and use its power to pretty smear Vacuo across the entirety of Remnant. As for Mistral, well, Leonardo was already under her sway via fear and a lot of the kingdom's huntsmen had already been taken out thanks to what was implied to be the work of Hazel and likely Tyrian too, to say nothing of Leonardo possibly sending some out on suicide missions without their knowing.**

 **Also, if she had done this and succeeded in thoroughly crushing Vale, a lot of the students that came from the other academies would die too, which would further deprive the other kingdoms of much needed protection.**

 **Perhaps I'm overlooking if not outright forgetting some details, but to me, this feels like a pretty solid plan for her, especially since it's now been officially established that she could pretty much mold the Grimm as she pleases like she did with the Beringels gaining wings (again, something I'm surprised she hasn't been hinted at trying long before), meaning if she got really creative, she could make some of the weaker Grimm a hell of a lot more dangerous to say nothing of the larger and smarter ones.**

 **You all are naturally free to agree or disagree with me on this and in fact I encourage it – I'd really like to hear if you think my plan for her is good or shitty and why you think that is.**

 **Anyways, just wanted to provide some additional explanation/context is all. Hope it was insightful.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	32. Chapter 32

So, having re-watched the last few episodes of RWBY volume 7, I have to say that I'm quite impressed. The writing had definitely improved a lot from the previous two to three volumes in terms of overall quality. Same thing goes for the fight scenes too. Before, I hadn't really thought too much of RWBY other than that it was a decent enough show to watch but with plenty of potential… though volume 5 and portions of volume 6 did lower my opinion of it considerably. Now though? I could actually say that it's a pretty good show and say so unironically.

Of course, it's far from a perfect show, obviously and there were a fair few plot holes here and there, but that's expected by now. The Ace-Ops, especially Clover and Marrow for obvious reasons, were a fun bunch to watch. Even when the last few episodes came around, well, sure their actions then irritated me for being too 'with us or against us' and all that, but at the same time it made sense to me and that matters more to me than what I'd have preferred to have happen. Doesn't make them (or Winter) any less stupid for being so damned obedient, but I guess that's just what it means to be a soldier… though one would think even soldiers such as them would have learned to actually question orders.

Oh well.

Anyways, what did you guys think of volume 7? Any moments that really wowed you? Any parts that had you pissed? I'm curious to know!

Now then, let's get onto the chapter! And man, I'm just on a roll with getting these chapters out!

Chapter 32

A few days go by without much incident. And it was this lack of conflict that honestly had Jaune feeling a bit on edge, if only due to what had been going on since then.

Which is to say that the drama around Blake was still ongoing and was showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

Currently, however, there really wasn't much he nor his friends could do, given that they were currently in the middle of class. Team RWBY, however, was absent.

Just as Blake had been all but told to do by general Ironwood, she'd gone to Vale's walls in order to combat the Grimm that have recently been attacking it and her friends had gone along with her, both to assist and to protect her; they trusted no one else that might be assigned to the walls to leave Blake alone.

Jaune doubted things were going to be easy for team RWBY out there on the walls, but he figured they were all better off there than here; many of their fellow students were rather pissed about it all, still. Which made sense, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

No matter. He just had to do whatever he could. In this case, that meant simply gritting his teeth and enduring the slander against his friend.

Oh, he could try and talk to some of his peers, try to make them see Blake for the flawed but ultimately good person she is, but he had long since stopped being naïve enough to believe that words alone would change the minds of so many people.

At least with what Blake was doing, out in open view of anyone close enough to the walls, she would be seen combatting the Grimm in the name of the public's safety. Again, it won't change everyone's mind, but she didn't have to win over everyone, just enough people to take her side.

Class ended soon enough as did the rest of classes for the day. It was now time for an early dinner and Jaune and his fellow male opted to cook dinner rather than go out to eat.

Working together, the duo whipped up a scrumptious meal that even in these hard times had drawn the attention of some other students passing by through the dorm's massive kitchen, to the point where some girls had even seemed to look at him and Ren with rather flirtatious looks. Apparently, men cooking and doing it well was sexy or something, Jaune belatedly realized.

But Pyrrha and Nora pretty much scared away these people by glaring at them really hard – man, what dedicated partners he and Ren had, Jaune thought, oblivious to the real reason – and in the next few minutes, they took to eating silently but heartily.

It was really the only way to take their minds off the situation going on.

"I can't believe how many people are talking badly about Blake," Pyrrha said quietly, but angrily. "I mean, I understand that she was a part of the White Fang, but…"

"It can't be helped," Jaune immediately pointed out. He looked at her and did a little motion with a free hand. "You of all people should understand her plight."

At that, Pyrrha could only sigh. "…Yes, I can."

She'd told him of her fame as the 'Invincible Girl' and how such a reputation had garnered her a legion of fans… as well as isolating her from most others, to the point where making friends had been so terribly hard for her to do. And with no way to combat this isolation, numerous rumors, though fortunately harmless, popped up about her.

Though the circumstances were as different as could be for her and Blake, the same basics still applied. All people could see was Blake's past now as a former White Fang. Even though they don't know the girl herself, they've already come to form certain opinions about her and acted on these opinions. Such was the way of things.

"Do you really think this will help her?" Ren questioned after taking a small sip from his delicious homemade vegetable drink. He was, of course, referring to Blake and her friends helping out at the walls.

Nora, sitting directly across from her partner, scoffed loudly. "Ha! As if that's change the minds of all these idiots!"

"N-Nora, not so loudly, please…!" Pyrrha pleaded quietly from beside her. Some other students who'd also come to make their own meals were looking their way and weren't looking too pleased, being able to somewhat overhear this conversation.

"Sadly, she's right. It might win over some people, but not everyone," Jaune said, basically spouting his thoughts from class earlier. "At least she hasn't been called up to speak before the council yet… but I feel like that'll change very soon."

Then, as if by the hand of some particularly mischievous god, their scrolls beeped in unison.

Pulling them out and opening up the messeage they'd received, JNPR paused for a solid few seconds.

The message in question was from the headmaster. And true to form, it would seem that tomorrow, Blake will be going to the council's meeting chambers to answer some very serious questions. And it looked like she would be taken to the place in question via a rather scenic route, meaning plenty of people that would be out during the day at that time would see her…

…But as worrisome as that was, the message also included another few details – they would be to act as part of Blake's escort. In other words, bodyguards. Looks like the headmaster had taken his suggestion to heart, after all, Jaune realized.

Alas, while this was good news of a sort, it didn't please Jaune entirely.

He narrowed his eyes as he reread the message a second and third time… and noticed that it didn't mention the rest of team RWBY at all.

Would they be going to meet the council and it was just so obvious a thing that the headmaster felt no need to mention it? No, that seems too unfeeling of the man. He may be on the strict side a bit, if that speech from the beginning of the school year was anything to go by, but he'd long since proven to care for his students greatly, even if he was rather aloof in how he went about things.

Still, the lack of acknowledgement about whatever role the rest of RWBY was to play in this was throwing Jaune off.

Looking up from his scroll, his eyes met Pyrrha's and then Nora's and Ren's. Once more, his friends were on the same page as him… unfortunately, same page or not, it wasn't as if there was anything they could do about it at the moment.

Sighing, Jaune put his scroll away. "…Let's finish dinner," he said simply. "Then we'll go see the headmaster as per the message's final instruction."

The very last comment in the message had been for them to see the headmaster directly at the earliest possible time in order to receive additional details.

Jaune just hoped that said details would clear up his mounting confusion.

* * *

"Enter," Ozpin said upon detecting JNPR's arrival to his office.

The four dutifully obeyed and they walked in. Ozpin eyed them critically as they did so, especially Jaune Arc.

Ever since that time a few days ago, the ancient wizard had been on serious edge. The very fact that the blond had even spoken Salem's name at all had confirmed that Ms. Belladonna did indeed tell her friends about what he'd been stupid enough to utter.

However, having kept a close eye on them via the campus' security cameras, it didn't seem like either JNPR or RWBY had gone around speaking of Salem's name to anyone else, which was the only good thing so far about this.

But just what did they intend to do, he wondered? It was as plain as day that they wanted to know more, he could almost literally feel the curiosity pouring off them about Salem… but now the question is, just what exactly will happen next?

He had to know and he had to know fast. As it is, he'd yet to tell James of this slip-up and for good reason – the man was already swiftly reaching his last nerve thanks to this fiasco with Ms. Belladonna's past being aired out for all to hear about. If he told the general of this potential leak, there was no telling what James would do in his currently rattled state.

Thus, he'd need to observe them and hopefully plug this leak for good before he could even think about telling James or any of his other associates about this.

"You came at a good time," he began as he stood up. Normally, he'd offer them seats, but he could tell from their postures that they were too tense to even think of sitting any time soon, at least not in his presence. "Let us jump to the matter at hand then – Ms. Belladonna had been summoned by the council and is required to be there tomorrow at approximately five in the afternoon. As you've read in my message, there will be an escort and you are to be a part of it."

"Why the suddenness of this?" Jaune Arc spoke. "This feels rather quick… and what of team RWBY too?"

The headmaster inwardly sighed. "It would seem that sending out Ms. Belladonna to the walls these past few days had been a misstep on my part – seeing her out there, working so closely with Vale's sole defense against the land-based Grimm has many people feeling antsy. The council is sadly included among this group."

At first, he'd been able to talk the council into taking their time thinking this all over, but now they were acting rather hastily, he couldn't help but think… but no, looking at it from their point of view, it would be worrisome to see a supposed terrorist being placed so close to such vital things. That said, it didn't make his frustration towards the council any less intense.

"As for team RWBY, they've also been summoned by the council to serve as Ms. Belladonna's defense of a sorts," he continued.

"Testimony," Lie Ren murmured, more to himself than anything else.

Nonetheless, Ozpin nodded in confirmation. "Correct. Not only that, but thanks to the CCT, Ms. Belladonna's parents have reached out to us in defense of their daughter not long after the news broke about her past. They will be there tomorrow as well."

That certainly got JNPR's attention and they all looked quite startled by that. "That's cool and all, but why's that?" Nora Valkyrie of all people asked, looking so very confused. "I mean, won't those stupid meanies-."

"Nora, be nice," Ren interjected.

Nora continued, undeterred. "-Just dismiss their words as bias or something?"

Ozpin's lips quirked upwards in very light amusement for the first in time in days. This was something he very much appreciated; there was just no telling when the next time would be where he could actually relax and take joy in something.

"Ordinarily, yes, the opinions of parents can be very biased indeed. However – and I do hope Ms. Belladonna doesn't mind me spilling the beans here – but her father, Ghira, used to be the high leader of the White Fang before Sienna Khan took his place. As for her mother, Kali, well, she never held any official position within the organization, she was nonetheless an advisor to her husband, so she holds considerable sway. More so since the man himself serves as chieftain of Menagerie, with Kali once again serving as an advisor of sorts. Thus, they hold a great deal of influence."

He didn't know the couple himself, but he always did his best to keep tabs on all major players, both before and after taking up official positions of authority. Though the Belladonnas were far from the sort of people to go around advertising their status, Ozpin was honestly amazed no one had ever noticed the connection between them and their daughter long ago. It wasn't as if Ms. Belladonna had gone through any considerable effort to hide her identity.

He supposed that could be blamed on the rather disjointed manner the kingdoms were run in; it wasn't as if every town or village kept birth certificates or any sort of records at all on their residents nor was it as if said residents would keep those records at hand upon choosing to live within the kingdoms themselves.

Anyways, JNPR was more than taken aback by what he'd just said, surprised enough to really show their feelings, which was quite convenient for him…

Except for Mr. Arc, of course.

The blond teen was by no means unaffected by the news, but he did a far better job than his teammates were doing at hiding his shock. More than that, just as the headmaster tried to get a read on the team, Mr. Arc looked to be doing something similar.

There was no sense of hostility behind the blond teen's actions, but rather a quiet yet intense inquisitiveness that had Ozpin rethinking some things.

Considering all that he knew of the teen so far, he was a wild card, but an undeniably powerful one at that too… would it perhaps be worth it to just bring him into the fold…?

No, he thought. Just as he'd said, the teen was a wildcard. While he had a fair good image of the kind of person Mr. Arc is, there's no way to know for sure how he'd react to what he could learn.

"Getting back on topic," he decided to say next as JNPR regained their composure. "They'll be making their own way to the council and in advance of Ms. Belladonna. They will also have their own security, so that will not be a primary concern of ours for now. What matters is securing Ms. Belladonna's as well as her team's safe passage from here to the council's chambers. It is a rather straightforward route, but that just makes it much more dangerous."

Having gained their attention again, he brought up a holographic map and silently beckoned them to move closer for a better look.

He began to go after in as much detail as possible over what was to be done. For one thing, they wouldn't be the only people assigned as Ms. Belladonna's security, but rather would actually be working with a few fully-fledged huntsmen and be put in charge of going on ahead to ensure the route is properly cleared and that any and all potential troubles are dealt with in advance.

The headmaster painstakingly went over every single street they'd be going down, pointing out to the best of his ability every single blind spot the cameras may have and what spots the police that have been assigned to this event will have trouble covering as well.

In spite of how sudden this all was, he did his damnedest to ensure that he was prepared for any manner of trouble. He'd learned his lesson from how nearly catastrophic things had been recently to be more active in how he went about things.

All the while, he made sure to monitor the team closely, but alas it seemed it was for naught; they were completely absorbed in what he was currently saying and showing them. Their dedication to their friends' safety was truly admirable, even though RWBY was more than capable of fending for themselves.

Roughly twenty or so minutes later, he finally began to wrap things.

"…I know that was an awful lot to drop on you," he began. "But do understand that this was equally as sudden for me. That so much has already been coordinated is a true miracle in and of itself."

That said, he had the sinking feeling that the council had already been planning something like this from the moment they'd started to recover their wits during the initial bombshell; no way the route could've already been planned out and covered to this extent already. They'd likely contacted the police commissioner the very second they'd finished speaking with him in order to discuss police presence.

"You've any questions?" he asked.

The four students shared a look between them for a moment before Pyrrha Nikos spoke up. "Will it be possible for us to provide testimony in her defense as well?"

"I honestly can't say. In all likelihood, you'll be on standby outside the council chambers as active security… but we'll see what happens," Ozpin answered truthfully.

That seemed to be enough for Ms. Nikos and she nodded in thanks. When no one else seemed to step up, Ozpin then nodded.

"Very well then. Thank you for your time. I'd advise you turn in early for the night. Now, dismissed…. Ah, except for you, Mr. Arc. There's a private matter I need to discuss with you."

Mr. Arc looked to his teammates and nodded at them in indication that he'll be okay. They clearly had a great deal of faith in him for they merely returned his nod and took their leave.

Now it was just him and the blond teen once more. Ozpin was beginning to notice this was a bit of a running thing between them.

"Is something the matter, headmaster?"

"…Not quite," Ozpin answered quietly. "I merely wished to see how you're doing."

"Me?" The blond was understandably confused.

The headmaster nodded. "With everything that's been going on since then, I've neglected your mental health… given what it was during your mission debriefing that one time."

He was referring to the boy's sudden openness during the debriefing about what happened at Sol. This was both a genuine attempt at seeing how the boy was doing now… as well as a ruse to see if he can better gauge his intentions.

It was two-faced, yes, but it had to be done.

The blond teen looked taken aback but settled down a split second later. "I…" He closed his eyes and then took a deep breath. "I'm doing better now. I just had to get that off my chest last time. Sorry if it caused you any worry, sir."

"Not at all. I'm glad to hear that. But do note that my doors are always open in case things become too much for you, Mr. Arc," Ozpin said and genuinely at that. "But do tell me – has there been anything of late that has warranted any concern from you? Aside from Ms. Belladonna's circumstances?"

Perhaps he'd just been too on the nose there – the way the boy's eyes narrowed ever so subtly, it was clear that he realized that he was referring to Salem's name. The boy really was sharp despite just how vague his words had been.

"…No, not really, sir," the boy answered. "At least, not as far as I know. Speaking generally though, I just wish to be sure that nothing will be threatening my friends… or any others."

Did Mr. Arc somehow sense that Salem did indeed pose a threat of sorts? If so, then his instincts were monstrous in a sense. Just how could he ascertain something like that from just a name alone…?

"I assure you, once this current mess is over and done with, things should be settling down for quite a while."

Which is to say, that Salem should hopefully be hanging back just a little longer until making her next grand move. Now, whether or not his student could pick up on that vague statement remained to be seen…

…And seen, it was. He could tell by the way Mr. Arc ever so slightly nodded. And it was also clear that there was numerous questions he wanted to ask yet held himself back from doing so.

"I see. That's good to hear, sir. It's good to know we can always rely on you and the others to watch out for us all. Though if there's ever anything I and my team can do to help…"

Ozpin couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Arc. My apologies for holding you up. You may take your leave, unless there's something else you wish to discuss."

The boy stayed quiet for just a second longer he should've, assuming he was trying to hide his intense stare. "Thank you. Have a good day and a good night, sir."

Ozpin returned the boy's words and he watched in silence as the blond left.

It wasn't until well after he took his leave that Ozpin finally returned to his own seat and sat down, sighing in the process.

"Well, that had been something," he said to himself.

Once again, Jaune Arc made clear his desire to help… and yet, it was also all too clear with how suspicious he sounded that he didn't quite trust him. The boy was a truly good person, but he was by no means a fool. He would not just go along with serving as a pawn, no matter how well he'd be treated and whatnot.

Thus, the boy would still be labelled a wildcard, Ozpin thought, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Simply going by their brief conversation, it seemed rather clear to the headmaster that Mr. Arc would let the matter drop for now, keep quiet about it… but only up until Salem made her move, at which point he would get involved and to hell with whatever Ozpin or his allies would have to say about it.

It was honestly reckless, for a teen, however strong he may be, to imply something like that without fully knowing everything, but it was nonetheless admirable. And it wasn't as if the boy was unaware of the fact that he didn't know everything either, meaning he wouldn't just blindly leap into the fray should things reach that point.

"You just get more and more interesting, Mr. Arc," Ozpin murmured as he leaned back in his chair. "Though the question still remains just what should be done about you…"

Alleviated to a point, Ozpin still had to wonder how things would progress from here… but after knowing what he knows now, if nothing else, Jaune Arc will fight for what was right.

That alone will have to do for now.

* * *

"Sir," a White Fang lieutenant called out to him. "It's nearly time."

Adam nodded, finishing the polishing of his blade and returning it to his sheathe. "Good. Then it's time to move out."

"Yes, sir!"

And so, as the new day began, Adam Taurus and his forces prepared themselves.

Today was going to be a day Remnant would not forget anytime soon.

* * *

Watts smirked in quiet triumph. It really can't be said enough how much he enjoys seeing the fruits of his labor.

"It's done?" Cinder asked somewhat impatiently from nearby.

"Yes." He'd figured the council and White Fang would've been making their respective moves by now… but what they didn't know was that in this short period of time, he'd taken the liberty of moving things along even more.

Thanks to that little imp that Cinder had by her side – surprisingly capable, he had to admit – gaining direct access to the systems he'd needed to tap into had been so terribly easy. From there, it'd been as simple as hacking the emails of every council member and essentially faking an entire conversation between them. All he had to do was just take emails they'd already been sending to each other and just alter the wording a little to best craft the scenario he wanted. Wordplay – it truly was an incredible craft. With just a few changes here and there, fooling others is as easy as breathing. All it took was just a few nudges here and there to their thought processes to make them agree to this entire farce now of all times.

As for the White Fang, well, reverse tracking their own digital footprints had also been a breeze for him. Against most others, their defenses would've been commendable enough, but to him, who'd written the entire code for Mantle's systems, it was nothing. On this end, all that had been needed was to show them the altered emails to make them think that the council had been coming around to this idea of their own accord. These screenshots had also had a special virus encoded within them that had given him access to the systems they were using as well and he'd activated the radio equipment there to monitor for himself what was being said at nearly all times.

"Taurus and his goons will be on their way now," he stated as he turned in his chair. "Thus, it'll soon be our time to move as well, Cinder. Ready yourself."

The woman nodded stiffly. "And our targets? Will they be there?"

She was referring to Jaune Arc and his team along with team RWBY, of course.

Watts nodded. He didn't miss the look of predatory anticipation in the different colored eyes of the diminutive woman standing near Cinder nor did he miss the way Hazel's arms slowly tensed up as well.

It was enough to almost make him laugh. At least his cohorts weren't wanting for motivation.

"Let's go," Cinder said as she pivoted and made to leave. "And Watts… your help was of great use. But don't forget that this is still my mission in the end."

Watts huffed as the young woman left before he could even bother responding. "Really now… just how useful does she believe herself to actually be to Salem?"

This was a question that was to not receive an answer, for everyone else in the room had taken off too, no doubt to prepare for what was to come next.

Watts sighed, his mood slightly soured.

But he cheered himself up merely seconds later – after all, the prelude to the destruction of Vale was now going to start.

* * *

The day goes by quickly, far too quickly for Blake's liking. Unfortunately, whether she wanted to or not, it would soon be time to speak directly before the council.

Currently, she was serving as the heart of an armed transport, heavily armed to be more precise. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered or appalled by the level of security around her. Was she really that much of a flight risk? What with two professional huntresses sitting inside the transport alongside her while two more sat inside the car behind them where the rest of her team was at, it certainly did feel like overkill. Blake had plenty of confidence in her skill, but she knew all too well that she was still years away from being on the level of a professional huntress.

That wasn't getting into the other huntsmen and police that seemed to be following either alongside or behind her transport, to say nothing of the police car leading the way in front of said transport.

Intellectually, she knew this was needed just in case any protestor – of which, she could hear many of as they neared their destination – decided to get a bit too uppity, but it still felt like overkill.

Unless… where they perhaps expecting something else to happen? Did they fear a White Fang attack upon her person? It certainly would make for quite a statement – how the White Fang will go out of its way to strike down a traitor and was more than capable of doing so within the heart of Vale.

Even so, this felt like too much, but perhaps that was just her nerves talking now.

…That said, regardless of the exact reason for all this security, she was rather surprised that no soldiers from Atlas were accompanying her in some way. Was this a show of slight trust from general Ironwood? No, she doubted it. Either the headmaster managed to talk him down or the man was simply having some of his forces hang back and watch from afar.

…Yeah, the latter sounded much more likely. It didn't put her at ease.

What did put her at ease though… was who exactly were among the huntsmen outside right now – team JNPR.

No doubt due to a combination of them knowing her – therefore, being able to put her at ease – and their own capabilities that considerably exceeded the norm for first years, especially Jaune, that was why they must have been chosen to be here.

They would definitely stand out, what with their age and all, but while that might probably make them a little uncomfortable, Blake really did appreciate their efforts.

Minutes go by, time now feeling like it was moving at an agonizing crawl. But sure enough…

"We're here," one of the huntresses said as the transport came to a stop, immediately getting up and maintaining a certain distance between herself and Blake as someone came and opened the transport from the outside.

Immediately, Blake was bombarded by the sight of the massive city hall that the council conducted their business at… in addition to the sight of numerous people behind thick blockades made of those thick stone roadblocks and policemen.

The people were protestors and they made this known as they all yelled at her in pure anger. The sheer level of negativity that she could almost literally sense right now ought to have brought a fair few Grimm here, but she supposed the people back at the walls were taking care of that right now.

The mere sight of so many protestors was almost enough to break her… but the sight of her friends as they exited the car they were in helped to calm her as did the sight of JNPR as they were spread out yet still close by in case anything happened.

She looked at the latter, specifically Jaune, and he nodded upon making eye contact with her. His hand was resting on the sole sword he now had, looking for all the world as though he was just letting his hand rest on it, but she knew well just how quickly he could draw forth his blade when needed. His strength, both in combat and in mental fortitude, was appreciated.

"You ready to talk some smack to these cronies?" Yang quipped with a cheeky smirk as she and the rest of team RWBY neared her. That she would so brazenly joke like that was enough to get the huntresses around them to frown in distaste.

For her part, Blake merely laughed albeit quietly. "Considering how much trouble I'm already in, I think I'll let you take care of that for me."

Yang's eyes twinkled dangerously… up until Weiss gave the blonde a light slap on the shoulder. "Don't actually take her seriously, you big idiot," the heiress said though not unkindly. "The last thing any of us need is you being thrown in jail just because you couldn't control your pun-spewing mouth."

"Ha, you're just jealous I'm way more open than you are," Yang shot back with a smirk. "Come on, I know you want to tell them off too."

Weiss rolled her eyes, but she had a slight smirk of her own too.

Ruby gasped in fake shock. "Weiss! Don't become like Yang! Just one of her is bad enough!"

As her teammates – her friends – acted as though today was any other day, Blake couldn't help but watch them with a smile, thankful for their presence. When she'd been told about this sudden hearing, her friends had immediately demanded to go and speak on her behalf, no if, ands or buts about it.

Now, the four of them were escorted inside and the thick material that comprised the building did wonders for blocking out all the noise outside. It was a pleasant surprise.

But what proved to be an even greater surprise was the sight of two very familiar people that had been awaiting her deeper within the building.

"M-Mom?" Blake stuttered out. "D-Dad?!"

There, just further down the hall leading up to the council's chambers, were her parents. The mere sight of them, looking as they did all that time ago, was enough to nearly freeze her in place. Only barely did she even notice the presence of others in the hallway, security personnel comprised of policemen and some people that had clearly come from Menagerie.

"Blake!" her mother cried out upon seeing her. She immediately rushed up to hug her and mercifully no one stopped her. "Oh, my baby girl…"

Her mother, Kali Belladonna, damn near hugged the life out of her right then and there and all Blake could do was just stand in place like an idiot.

H-How…? After running away from home to join up with the likes of Adam and Sienna, after spending so much time committing such horrible things, just how could her mother be quick to rush to her like this?

Her mother broke the hug and looked her in the eyes, nothing but love in her own.

"M-Mom, I…" Blake started, unsure of what to say yet nonetheless tried to say something, anything.

Her mother merely smiled and patted her cheek gently, just as she used to do when she was just a young child. "Oh, Blake, I know… and it's okay. What's always mattered to me and your father is that you're still alive and well."

…!

Blake nearly broke at that statement and it was only thanks to Yang being so close by to suddenly rush up and support her that she remained standing.

But of course, as was also the case during her childhood, her father was a bit of a mood killer.

"That isn't to say we approve of everything you've done," he said somewhat hastily as he stepped forward, looking a bit embarrassed by his wife's actions. But that didn't make the small smile on his face any less genuine. "But your mother is right, Blake… I'm glad you're well."

Blake was quick to do as her mother did, rushing up and giving him a big hug. It took him off guard to say the least, but he was swift to return it. "Dad, I'm so sorry about all this…"

"I know," he responded gently before breaking the hug. "And trying to make up for this certainly won't be easy… but your mother and I are always here to help. Just like now for example."

"E-Errr…" Ruby could be heard somewhere behind her, sounding just like her awkward self. It was enough to kill the mood somewhat and have all eyes drawn to her. The silver eyed girl could only laugh awkwardly. "…Hi?"

Her mother, ever the friendly one, was quick to step up. "Oh, are you Blake's friends?" she asked in happy curiosity.

"O-Oh, yeah, definitely! We're all on the same team at Beacon and well, we're here to help too," Ruby summed up quickly and lamely, shuffling about in nervousness.

"I see… your help is appreciated," her father spoke stiffly, reminding the B of RWBY just where exactly she got her slight stand off-ishness from.

It was enough to lift her mood further… until she saw her father focus his gaze on Weiss, who stiffened upon noticing his gaze.

The security personnel around them, who've been remarkably forgiving about all this fuss, tensed up as well.

Her dad's reputation as chieftain of Menagarie was well known to those that looked into such things and Weiss's name was also well-known by sheer virtue of being a Schnee.

"Dad…" Blake started, worried.

He merely held up a hand, silencing her. "…You're a friend of my daughter?" he asked Weiss.

"Yes sir," Weiss responded without hesitation. "I'll admit we'd gotten off to a rough start… and when I discovered she was not only a Faunus but also formerly part of the White Fang, well, I will admit that I didn't take that news well. But that's in the past now. We've talked it over, we understand each other's circumstances. We've grown closer and now I stand here of my own volition to make sure nothing bad happens to her."

Weiss then smirked ever so slightly. "And it will be a cold day in hell before I let something happen to a friend of mine."

Evidently, a lot of the security personnel had a certain image of members of the Schnee family and rightfully so. To hear Weiss utter something like that must have been a real shock.

Her father, however, didn't look so impressed… until…

He chuckled. "…Not even I was immune to the sheer anger Faunus held towards your family. It just goes to show that bias can run both ways… I truly do have much to learn still, it seems." He extended out his right hand. "Your help is appreciated, Ms. Schnee."

Weiss reached out and shook his hand, her own looking comically small in comparison to her father's hand. "Glad to be of service."

Blake could only watch blankly as her mother then let out a barely muffled shriek. "Oh, you are just too cute! You and your teammate here!" She was, of course, referring to Weiss and Ruby.

She snatched them both up in a sudden hug. Yang watched and laughed. Blake was somewhat embarrassed as was her father.

The security personnel could only look on, utterly confused by all that was happening.

Eventually though, Blake finally spoke up again. "Uhm, mom, maybe you should let them go now. We shouldn't keep the council waiting."

"Kali, please listen," her father said when her mother showed no signs of having heard her. "It'll be just a few more minutes until the council is ready for us. Now let those two breathe – they can't testify in Blake's defense if they're no longer able to talk."

Her mother let go of her teammates upon hearing that, looking quite embarrassed with herself. Meanwhile, Ruby and Weiss, having not been expecting such a sudden and strong hug, could only cough and gasp for much needed air.

"I'm already loving your mom, Blake," Yang said to her.

Blake could only snort, unable to think of anything to say.

But then, just a moment later, they all immediately settled down as someone exited the room they were all waiting outside of. A thin man that must clearly be an assistant to a council member looked them all over with zero emotion… save for just a slight bit of disdain upon seeing her, but he hid it well.

"…The council is ready now," he spoke. "When you enter, security will show you all to where you will be seated. I ask that you obey quietly."

He then opened the door as wide as he could and some security personnel began to usher them all inside.

Blake took a deep breath as she was the first one to be escorted within. She looked back ever so briefly at everyone here to support her – her friends. Her parents. Even the guards that had come with her parents shot her looks of encouragement as they were forced to wait out in the hallway.

Their presence gave her much renewed strength… and thanks to the drawn out shenanigans just now, she discovered that her dread from earlier was now gone. She was as calm as she was ever going to be now, she realized belatedly.

Alright then, she thought as she stood tall and proud.

It was time to begin.

* * *

Jaune stood as still as a statue as he remained outside alongside his team. A fair few protestors, upon seeing Blake enter city hall, took their leave not long afterwards for whatever reason but many remained, no doubt eager to see whether his friend would exit the place in handcuffs or not.

His teammates looked somewhat unnerved by the sheer rage and even hatred the protestors were spewing out right now. He was feeling far from dandy himself, but he was doing a much better job hiding it. Once again, his years of experience out there in the frontier was serving him well.

That said, the fact that he and his team were the only teens out here among the sheer number of security personnel was an odd thing to see. If anyone else was in his position, they'd likely be intimidated due to being the odd ones out. But as surreal as it was to be the only group of teens among a throng of fully fledged huntsmen and police officers, he took it as something of an honor – it showed, if only to the public, that they were capable.

"How are you holding up, Pyrrha?" he asked his partner, having to speak up a little to be heard over all the noise.

"As good as could be, I guess." The redhead smiled nervously, angling her head so that only he could see said smile. "…This is rather overwhelming, to put it lightly."

He nodded in understanding. "Just stay focused. So long as you stay busy looking out for any possible threats, you'll tune out all the voices eventually." It was rather poor advice, but it was the best he could offer at the moment.

She nodded in thanks and proceeded to walk off, she along with several others having been tasked with patrolling the area as discreetly as possible.

Having been tasked to do the same, Jaune walked off in the opposite direction, approaching one part of the barricade. He was so close now to some protestors that he was literally within spitting distance… yet not a single person dared to do anything to him. If anything, as he neared, some people seemed to quiet down, looking intimidated.

Was it his scar, he wondered? No, he doubted it. Perhaps it was the sheer intensity of his presence. Several people he's met out there on the frontier have made it clear to him that he can have this intensity about himself when focusing on something that just seems to ward people off. Maybe that was what it is.

He's never thought much of this, but if it could help quell the crowd somewhat, then he'll gladly take it for it is, though the mere thought of intentionally intimidating people into submission was something that didn't sit well with him at all.

That aside, though…

"Ren, did you notice anything?" he asked as he approached his fellow teen. Out of the bunch of them, Ren had the most attuned sense when it came to detecting aura.

The boy frowned and shook his head, seemingly unable or unwilling to say anything more. Jaune could only silently acknowledge his answer.

"Okay, thanks," he said. "Stay sharp and just focus on any presences that are steadily moving anywhere near the barricades."

"Got it," Ren answered quietly. "Do you think something will happen?"

At that, Jaune paused in his tracks. "…Possibly."

He said nothing further and continued his trek while Ren grimaced.

The blond teen discreetly looked around, specifically at the high rising buildings all around the area. There didn't seem to be any signs of potential snipers, but one could never be too sure.

Despite the lack of visible threats, he couldn't help but feel something horribly off, thus his extra vigilance. Given just how big of an incident this is turning out to be, he was genuinely surprised nothing happen during the entire trip here… but maybe…

No, he thought with a shake of a head.

He'd just been about to think that this entire event was one big trap. And see, there was a world of difference between merely setting a trap for this event and the event itself being a trap. The former could be dealt with easily enough (relatively speaking, of course), but the latter though, well, that depends.

But for this entire debacle to be a trap in and of itself… his instincts said it was, yet his rational mind, which he was trying to apply more and more often here in an attempt to be himself, was failing to figure out how such a thing could be possible… for if it was trap, just what kind of diabolical mind cook up a scheme this complicated?

And he wasn't thinking of the White Fang – though undoubtedly responsible for Blake's past coming to light, they've never demonstrated the cunning nor resources needed to manufacture from scratch every last detail like this.

No… someone else felt behind this somehow.

…

…

…Ah.

"Could it be?" he whispered to himself as he patrolled.

The sheer suddenness of this council hearing being called couldn't possibly be explained by what the headmaster had told him. He didn't doubt that Blake being seen working so close to Vale's walls could trigger further unease within people, but to the point of making the council decide to do something like this literally the day after?

No, it didn't feel right at all. Someone had pulled some strings. But who? How? Why?

His gaze intensified as his senses further sharpened themselves. He may now be trying to temper his instincts with rationality, but not anymore. If he felt even the slightest thing off, he will act on what his gut tells him to.

"Excuse me," he began, speaking to a nearby huntsman. Upon getting his attention, Jaune wasted no time speaking with him quickly about the situation, namely what the huntsman knew about all this and the like.

After a quick minute, he determined that a lot of the people assigned to this event as security were just as in the dark as he was on the more subtle nuances. All they knew was that there was just a high probability of there being an attack of some kind on the White Fang's part.

Thanking the man, Jaune continued his patrol and glanced around himself out of the corners of his eyes, just waiting for something to happen.

Moving out of view so that he could use his scroll freely – to do so openly in front of the public could paint a bad image, that of a lax trainee. He personally didn't care about his reputation much, but it wouldn't do to shame Beacon and his fellow trainees – he promptly sent a message to his friends about his suspicions and the request for them to spread out some more and cover more ground. After doing that, he sent another message, this one to the people in charge of the security detail for all this – he'd been given their contact info by the headmaster prior to moving out and thus he was putting it to good use.

He knew that they probably wouldn't take too seriously the word of a mere trainee – after all, they didn't know him personally nor what things he's been a part of – but nonetheless, he did his best to express his urgency in the matter and did his best to come up with a more conceivable reason other than 'my gut is telling me something is wrong.'

Finishing this up, he moved back out into the open and watched from afar as the lead police officer, reading over his message, swiftly called over a few people and gave them new orders. Though this was certainly a relieving thing to see, the blond himself was far from feeling at ease still.

Moving back towards Pyrrha, he again asked how things were going. "Anything?"

The redhead shook her head. "Other than some people recognizing me and taking some pictures?" she started with just a lightly resigned smile. "Not really. I've even been using my semblance to 'feel' for any oddities, but nothing on that front either."

Thanks to her semblance of polarity, she was capable of sensing metal around her. Though not exactly the most precise at it, she's still a good enough sense for this that any sudden movements of any piece of metal or otherwise magnetized material will be picked up by her, be it bullets, a close combat weapon, vehicles, or something else entirely. Combined with Ren also staying on the lookout for any oddities among the people he can sense, they should have a 'monitoring network' set up here.

"…Wait," Pyrrha then said, getting Jaune's attention again. She then motioned to something off in the near distance. "There…"

Jaune followed her subtle hand gesture.

As a necessity, Vale had a number of cameras set up throughout the kingdom. Not enough to warrant any outcries of invasion of privacy and definitely not enough for whomever watches the cameras to be labelled as omniscient, but enough to generally keep track of the regular going-ons in the kingdom.

And given the importance of city hall, there were definitely a lot of cameras around, be it atop streetlights or on the sides of certain nearby buildings. One could tell when the cameras were in use by the simple glowing red light along their sides.

And as Jaune looked around, he noticed a number of cameras were now missing these lights… and were facing away from the area too.

He wasn't the only one who seemed to notice this, for the lead officer along with a few huntsmen were in the midst of openly speaking on their scrolls, talking with a quiet urgency that mercifully none of the protestors could pick up due to their own loudness.

Jaune then watched as one by one, the security personnel on their scrolls gained looks of confusion upon their faces and he could make out via lipreading them uttering the words 'you there?' among other similar phrases several times over.

His gut was telling him something again and he looked to his scroll… and saw he no longer had a signal.

"…They're about to make a move," he told Pyrrha, immediately making her tense up and reach for her weapon. "Get ready to move. Stick close to city hall alongside those other huntresses over there in case anyone tries to make a run for it."

No longer caring about the public might think, Jaune jogged over to where Ren was, but didn't approach as he saw his teammate still focusing hard, but not giving off any sign that something was wrong just yet. Instead, he went up to Nora, who pulled out Magnhild and wielded it in a somewhat casual manner in its gun form.

"Something up, fearless leader?" the girl said in a serious tone.

"There might be," Jaune answered, just as other security personnel started to rapidly move about, the down cameras and lost scroll signal swiftly making the rounds. And this time, the protestors noticed something was about to go down, for they quieted down considerably in an instant. "Stick close to Ren and be ready. Pyrrha will defend city hall alongside some other huntresses. I'd like you and Ren to take care of protecting the crowd alongside the officers in case anything happens."

Nora nodded as she switched Magnhild into its hammer form. "What about you, Jauney?"

"I'll be heading further out, checking the perimeter around this area," he immediately said as he removed his blade, sheathe and all, from where it'd been hanging on his waist this whole time. He didn't draw the blade itself just yet though. "…Something's about to happen. Don't know why they're taking their sweet time right now but keep a lookout."

Nora nodded gravely and he dashed off.

Despite what he just said, he did have a vague feeling as to why things were playing out this way. Whoever exactly was doing this was essentially trying to incite panic. A bit of a risky move considering all the officers and huntsmen were now very much on guard, to say nothing of when the Atlas soldiers might decide to get involved, but so was the crowd now, which would only invite even more Grimm to the walls, possibly more than what the security personnel at the walls could deal with.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw one of the officers near an alleyway jerk in surprise. On instinct, Jaune immediately rushed to his possible aid.

"Are you-?" he began in concern, only to abruptly stop as alarm bells went off in his mind.

The officer – clearly dead, as the cleanly cut throat now attested to – fell back and now the only thing filling Jaune's eyes was the bladed point of a very familiar umbrella and two mismatched eyes glaring at him viciously.

And behind him, he could now hear the sounds of multiple explosions going off… along with cries of terror and rage.

* * *

 **Not going to lie, Blake's segment was a real bitch to write – wasn't too sure how exactly to write out her meeting with her parents again and it underwent a few rewrites before I settled for the end result. Hope it's to your liking.**

 **As for this whole council hearing thing, as absurd as I'm sure it sounds to you all, there doesn't seem to be anything akin to a legal system in RWBY that's similar to what we have in real life. And given the authority that the council in each kingdom seems to have, I decided to take some liberties… and besides, while fleshing out some aspects of the world is fun/necessary, you guys aren't reading this to see accurate legal processes in a series like RWBY, at least not in this fic. Hope you understand.**

 **Now, as for how things are going to unfold, well, you'll see in the next chapter, I'm afraid, heh. The next few chapters will be where things really start to pick up in all sorts of ways… and I am definitely eager to get around to writing it all out!**

 **Now then, until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	33. Chapter 33

Ok, gonna keep this AN as short as can be.

First off, watched Sonic! And you know, as far as movies go, it wasn't bad at all. Plot was generic, but that was expected going into it. What mattered to me was whether or not the director and actors could capture the spirit of Sonic and on that front, they did okay, definitely better than what I'd feared. And considering the extremely high possibility now of them making a sequel, I wouldn't mind watching that if/when it's released, heh.

Other than that, not much else that needs to get said. So let's just get on with the chapter!

Chapter 33

The plan to get into Vale had been equal parts easy but risky.

No, to even call it a plan would be generous to start with. It'd been just a simple idea… but often times, simple worked best.

Given the recency of the Breach combined with them airing out Blake's past, public unrest had been the highest it's ever been. Grimm had always been drawn to the kingdom walls, but never to the extent they were being drawn at now.

Thus, with those mindless beasts keeping the forces lined up on the walls fully occupied, it'd been fairly easy for Adam and his forces, riding on the last few bullheads they had around, flew as high as the vessels could possibly go, using the occasional flock of large Nevermores to stay hidden.

And just like that, they'd been able to just fly high over the walls of Vale, the Nevermores that had been oblivious to the idea of looking above them to spot them, serving as a smokescreen even as said avian Grimm were swiftly dealt with by Vale's forces.

However, it hadn't been _that_ easy – bullheads can fly quite high, but even they had limits. Same thing went for Adam himself and his forces, of course. Aura was a wonderfully useful thing, but not even that could suddenly make it easier for them to breathe normally at such ridiculously high altitudes, where the oxygen levels were oh so thin. It would've been so easy for their pilots to pass out and let them all scream futilely as they dropped to their demise.

But that hadn't been the case at all. They'd been able to push through this strain and thanks to the fact that it was that time of the year where the sun set much earlier than normal, they had the slight advantage of darkness on their side, which further helped cover them.

And it'd been just as they'd begun their descent that Adam had given the order.

"Go."

And just like that, the forces that had long since been placed in Vale had sprung into action. Having hidden among the crowds lined up outside city hall, they'd taken off the backpacks they'd been carrying and flung them towards the nearest police cars, after which the bombs inside the backpacks went off with just a simple remote detonation.

The initial explosions did wonders, throwing everyone into panic and taking out some officers right off the bat, much to Adam's delight. That had been when the ground forces drew out their hidden weapons and quickly went to work, using the resulting panic to start attacking wildly.

"In the name of the White Fang!"

"Die, you humans!"

"Glory to Faunuskind!"

These were the kinds of battle cries his forces let out down there as they promptly started swinging wildly. Naturally, this only drew the attention of the huntsmen down there, but that had been expected.

"Get ready to drop!" Adam called out to the brave men and women that were aboard with him, who all cocked their weapons in response.

One would think that the Atlas fleet would've shot them down by now, but that was also something that had been anticipated – most of the airships had been hovering near Vale's walls and at a low enough altitude that their radars hadn't been able to pick up their bullheads as they'd flown far overhead. As for the rest of the fleet, they were mainly stationed around Beacon, which was not quite as close to downtown Vale as some would probably prefer.

But for him and his forces, this was more than ideal.

The bullhead's speed increased for a moment before slowing as they neared ground, whereupon Adam immediately leapt out as did his forces. They were to be the strike team that would slip in through the back of city hall and kill that wretched human council as well as Blake and all else who would dare to stand in their way.

As for the other bullhead…

"We'll take it from here, sir!" came the voice of his gruff lieutenant over their comms channel.

Adam nodded despite the man not being able to see such a gesture. It was more to himself than anything else anyways. "Give it your all, lieutenant!"

The other strike team would be touching down deeper in Vale and stir up enough chaos to force the personnel in front of city hall to have no choice but to divide their efforts. And with any luck, by the time the Atlas forces get involved, there will be too much widespread chaos to risk simply mowing down everyone they saw, lest they risk taking out civilians or those on their side.

This wasn't even getting into the additional number of Grimm this would undoubtedly draw to Vale.

Adam didn't expect all of his forces to come out of this unscathed, much less undiminished… but they all knew damn well going into this that the risk of death was high.

And yet, they all accepted this high risk without question. Such was their resolve for their glorious purpose.

For the sake of the Faunus, blood must be spilled… and he'll see to it personally that his former comrade Blake's blood is spilled as well.

"Let's go!" he called out to his forces as he led the way.

And they followed him eagerly, onwards to city hall.

* * *

Despite his obvious shock over what was happening, Jaune was still able to react to the incoming attack, even if it was his body simply moving on its own rather than moving in response to some mental command. Such was the level his instincts were at.

Just as the bladed umbrella was about to jab itself right into his left eye, he tilted his head to his right and the blade missed him by mere centimeters. Too close for him to draw his sword normally, he pulled out in a reverse grip and swung it at an upwards angle.

The woman – the same one that had been with Torchwick, he realized – was able to dodge and she did so using that same enigmatic semblance of hers from before, a copy of her taking the hit while the real one avoided death.

The woman landed in a low crouch just several yards away and her eyes were wide in shock. Looks like she hadn't expected him to be capable of reacting that quickly. But then she glared hatefully and started to move again, dashing towards him at top speed.

She was a fast and nimble little woman. Jaune could remember how tricky it'd been trying to hit her the last time they'd fought.

Unfortunately…

"So, you bear a grudge, hmm?" He muttered out these words to her as he switched his grip on his blade, holding it normally now. His eyes narrowed dangerously and the pressure around him shifted in response. "I can understand that, even when considering your crimes. But that said…"

He still remembered all too well this woman's movements, from the most grandiose flips she could pull off down to even how lightly her muscles would tense with every moment. It was truly unfortunate for this woman – he knew how she moved and would move.

And moreover…

"It's pointless," he said solemnly as pure aura spilled forth from him, golden aura bursting forth like an erupting volcano. It blew back everyone around him and whatever chaos was taking place not so far behind him seemed to quiet down in response too. This was very much intentional on his part – every second he wastes trying to take this woman out whilst worrying over collateral damage would only allow whatever's going on to carry on that much longer. Thus, he would end this quickly as he could, collateral damage be damned.

Buildings could be rebuilt given enough time. But lives once lost can never return.

The woman sensed danger and the hateful look in her eyes turned to shock and even fear. Proving once again how light on her feet she was, she switched from a straightforward charge to a series of twirls in an attempt to dodge whatever he was going to do.

But again – pointless.

Jaune stomped the ground, hard enough to make the entire area rumble. The woman was left with no choice but to jump lest she los her balance and go tumbling.

Then, he flared his aura even more intensely… and in doing so, ended up not only blowing the girl back but also destroying the nearby walls. She no longer had anything she could kick off of to avoid him.

And now that she was oh so vulnerable in midair, Jaune prepared to swing.

Channeling aura into his blade, he started to swing with both hands to unleash a strike that the woman could neither dodge – nor survive.

And that's what should have happened – he should've swung and the woman would've died then and there, one more 'evil' vanquished… except, that's not quite how things ended up playing out in the next split second.

For suddenly, a nearby car started up despite not having a driver and it barreled towards him at surprising speed. But of course, no matter how fast a car is, there's no way it could ever be fast enough to hit him, much less hit him strongly enough to hurt him.

But that was when another familiar face made itself – _himself_ – known. Barreling straight through another wall that was close to the car, the familiar sight of that man from Sol appeared and slammed into the car, applying his immense strength and speed to it.

And just like that, something that Jaune should've been able to avoid or otherwise shrug off ended up striking him and striking him _hard_. He scarcely had time to process what was going on before the car was lifted up and then slammed into him again, this time being used like some horribly huge and unwieldy baseball bat.

Pain filled Jaune for all of a second, but even then, he still focused. Aura was still concentrated in his blade and he let it loose in a swing that obliterated the car that had then been thrown at him… and of course, he still made sure to aim for the woman. Both of these foes was bad enough, but he had a far better chance of taking her out than he did of taking out the man.

Whether or not he struck true though was unknown, for the man then barreled right into him and landed a powerful uppercut that sent him flying a truly ridiculous distance -.

-Away from city hall and the chaos now continuing outside of it.

Away from his friends.

* * *

"Oh my…" Watts muttered as he watched from afar.

Having set up in a nice room close to city hall so that he could better observe things up close without sticking out, he'd wasted no time carrying out his part of the plan.

The plan itself was relatively straightforward – first, that little imp (Neo, he had to remind himself) would go and take out a few of the officers, which would naturally grab the attention of the young Jaune Arc. Then, when he was kept occupied by Neo, Hazel would step in and blindside him and take him well away from the action now taking place around city hall.

From there, Hazel and Neo – the girl had absolutely refused to simply leave things up to the former – would team up to take out Jaune Arc as quickly as possible, thereby ridding them of this blond haired problem for good. And as for Cinder and her two brats? They were to capitalize on this fiasco by infiltrating Beacon properly this time to find that Maiden. After all, with all the hell the White Fang and now the Grimm were raising, it's only natural that the academy would send out their own forces to respond.

Even when accounting for that damnable Ironwood and his own forces, it just wouldn't do at all for Beacon's 'promising' trainees and the students from the other academies to sit on the sidelines.

Again, a straightforward plan.

Or so Watts had thought.

Upon seeing how swiftly Jaune Arc had reacted to Neo and what he would've done to her with that absurdly powerful swing, their side would've lost a semi-valuable asset just like that. It was a good thing then that he and Hazel had decided to step in earlier than usual. With him hacking that car from afar to draw the boy's attention for just a split second, it'd given Hazel the opening needed to remove him from the current battlefield.

Alas… the boy had still swung his blade… and the results had been truly devastating – it was as if a truckload of bombs had gone off. That entire alleyway, which stretched on for a solid half mile had been absolutely obliterated, to say nothing of the portions of the surrounding buildings being taken out as well.

Thanks to all the debris now flying around everywhere, he couldn't ascertain that imp's well-being, but she should've had enough time to recover thanks to Hazel to try avoiding the attack.

No matter, he realized somewhat grimly, what did matter is that now Hazel would finish the boy off.

As things are, no one seemed to truly notice what had just happened. Oh, they all certainly saw and felt that explosive attack just now, but considering the other bullhead the White Fang were clearly using was now dropping bombs and shooting everywhere, the attack was quickly being forgotten about.

"Hmph." Despite how it might have sounded aloud, Watts had humphed out of grim amusement. "It would seem I'd underestimated him, after all…"

He marched towards the window and looked out it dispassionately, as if the sight of carnage was not something out of the ordinary.

Watts made a sound as his scroll pinged – an alert that he'd set up prior to this operation. Checking his scroll, he pulled up the feed of several cameras that watched Vale's main freeway… which is where Hazel had intended to take the boy for their battle.

Working his dexterous fingers, he killed the live feed to whatever fools had been put in charge of such monitoring in the first place. And just like that, he was now the only one around to watch this feed uninterrupted.

It honestly made him feel special in a way.

"Let's see what you can really do," he murmured quietly as the boy and Hazel now glared at one another, seemingly unmindful of the traffic around them being thrown into chaos due to their sudden appearance.

He'd done his part of disabling the cameras and comms around city hall for up to fifteen miles – more than enough to increase the chaos out there tenfold, if he did say so himself. At this point, he would simply act in an auxiliary role as needed, provided any of his allies run into any troubles that would require his technological touch.

Until then, however, he would satisfy his personal curiosity now.

Jaune Arc and Hazel were about to face off – two anomalous existences that possessed power and capabilities clearly beyond the norm ready to clash.

A disgraced scientist he may be, but he was still a scientist nonetheless… and he would truly be lost if he simply skipped out on something like this.

Who knows? Perhaps whatever he will see shall be the key needed for him to finish the research he'd started long ago – and the device he'd created all that time ago that he now desired to get back from Ironwood.

* * *

Pandemonium. That was the only way things could be described right now, Jaune thought grimly as he stared resolutely at the man walking quietly up to him.

Having been tossed onto Vale's main highway, the blond was keenly aware of all the cars around him that had grinded to a halt upon his less than graceful landing. Combined with all the noise being made over at city hall and the series of explosions that could be visibly seen even from here, there was no mistaking the terror everyone around him was going through.

"Everyone, get back!" he roared out as he held his sword in an offensive stance. As much as he'd love to – needed to – ensure everyone here got far, far away from here, that wouldn't be possible. He was the only one here, after all… and the foe before him didn't look like he was just going to let him do as he pleased.

The man's muscles bulged as he prepared to fight. His stoic expression quickly gave way to one of barely contained rage… but at what? At who? Jaune could only guess. "Whether they escape with their lives or not, they'll die regardless."

That was all the man said before suddenly charging right at him. The distance between them closed in an instant and Jaune was just barely able to raise his blade in time to deflect the incoming overhead fist. The man was definitely taking this seriously from the start and it showed in how this particular section of the highway shook violently just from the missed strike.

The man's strength was ridiculous, something that really didn't need another mention but had to be mentioned again nonetheless – even with how much stronger he'd gotten since their first battle, Jaune had found it difficult just to ward off that initial strike.

But it hadn't just been his strength that had grown since then – and Jaune immediately took to showcasing this growth.

Though the overhead blow wasn't a move that the man had used against him before, Jaune had familiarized himself with the way the larger man moved. Thus, immediately after deflecting the strike, he was quick to exploit the small opening the man had at his neck.

However, his attack was anticipated, for the man suddenly moved his shoulder up and his neck down at the same exact time, catching his slash in between his trapezoid muscles and chin, looking almost non-plussed.

Normally, something like this would warrant him attacking with his second sword, which was impossible since it'd been broken and yet to be replaced. And yet, this worked to Jaune's advantage actually since using both hands to swing one sword instead of just one hand for each blade meant he could put more strength into his swings.

So, even though the man had caught his blade, it still budged him a bit… and for Jaune, that was more than enough.

Letting out a fierce yell, Jaune promptly twisted at the waist as he shifted his footing. He did this not to try and force his strike through, but to instead flip the man over, which he succeeded in doing. He then lashed out with a blinding fast punt kick, intent on knocking the man off the highway.

But the man let go of his blade and caught his foot, though the impact was still enough to send him back several meters.

Jaune couldn't let up, not like last time, he realized. He needed to stay on the offensive. Though the man didn't show it, he'd probably been taken just a bit off guard by the increase to his strength and speed since their last fight and that was a sense of confusion Jaune needed to exploit.

Charging up a small amount of aura within his blade, Jaune swung his blade and unleashed a very small aura slash, sacrificing power for speed. It cut into the man just as he was recovering from the kick and was forced back even more…

…Towards some of the people that were still gawking at everything going on.

But that was okay; he'd anticipated something like that.

Dashing after the man, Jaune held his blade in one hand and then as he neared, he lashed out with his free hand, specifically his finger as he attempted to jab it right into the man's eye – only for the man to dodge, grunting in annoyance. The man lashed out with a powerful hook, but Jaune raised his blade to once again deflect it even as he was now in midair, the force of the blow lifting him off his feet.

He used this change in his predicament, however, to latch onto the man's arm and twist it, hoping to break it. In this endeavor, he failed, but was able to force the man to take a knee and promptly kicked him right in the jaw.

The man shrugged off the kick and simply got back up – but not before, raising his arm quickly, nearly throwing Jaune off in the process and when that failed, he brought his arm back down in a chop that resulted in the blond being slammed right into the highway.

Once again, the whole thing shook and people screamed and finally started to flee, some doing so in their cars while others fled on foot since their vehicles weren't exactly in positions to easily turn tail in.

Jaune grunted as he ended up losing his hold on the man's arm but retaliated by jabbing his blade into his side. He jabbed it in as hard as he could, but just barely managed to even break past the guy's aura, much less his clothing and skin.

His intention initially had been to force the man to the side so that he could batter him off the highway's closest barrier, but because the man had dodged that initial finger stab, things had gone awry as his current circumstances can attest to.

The man moved back a bit, enough for the sword to no longer be stabbing him and went in for a fast stomp. Jaune rolled out of the way, but still paid for this dearly as the stomp shook the highway again – and this time, the highway began to outright break apart.

"No!" he whispered harshly as deep cracks spread for tens of meters, then even further, not just across the lanes here but to the other side where traffic traveled in the opposite direction.

Back on his feet, he concentrated aura in his blade again and swung upwards this time as the man charged right at him. The man stood his ground even as he unleashed his attack and rather than going flying off into the distance like Jaune had hoped would happen, the man's charge was barely even slowed as he pressed on through.

Though it was slight and extremely quick, Jaune would swear he saw something odd about the man's eyes – it was if they'd been crackling with lightning.

In any case, realizing he couldn't dodge in time, he stood his ground and braced for impact – and what an impact it was.

The man tackled him hard and wrapped his massive arms around Jaune and together the two went barreling down the highway, smashing through cars that had mercifully been empty.

Until they ended up smashing through the barricades that divide the set of lanes and so they ended up going right into oncoming traffic.

Letting loose a mighty roar as aura surged from within himself, Jaune managed to break free of the man's grip through sheer force of will and body and brought up a knee that slammed right into the man's jaw, hitting him so hard that it nearly snapped his head all the way back in addition to slowing his charge.

Due to having to jump up a bit in order to even knee him in the first place, Jaune promptly put the guy in a headlock and did a back-roll, using the still existing momentum of the tackle to flip the guy over and send him flying.

He flew over most of the cars, many of which started to drive like crazy as the drivers within freaked the hell out due to the sudden appearance of them both.

For the most part, it looked like the man would clear to the other side of the highway without issue… until the man's airborne form clipped part of a big truck.

Jaune cursed himself for not seeing that coming and he moved fast, leaping over the panicking traffic in one bound. The man's crash against the side of the truck's trailer had been strong enough to make it start to flip over quickly, but upon landing, Jaune quickly pushed the truck back onto its proper side. As an added bonus of good fortune, the driver had enough sense to smash the accelerator peddle and off the damaged truck went with nary a second even wasted.

But the man, having landed not far away, was already up and even worse, he'd snatched a car right out of traffic and held it over his head as if it were an oversized baseball.

The family inside said vehicle were obviously terrified, the screams of the kids and the parents plenty loud for Jaune to hear. Said screams echoed within him, down to his very soul.

"Don't," he pleaded quietly, feebly. For he knew it would fall on deaf ears.

Sure enough, the man glared at him darkly… but rather than throw the car, he suddenly stomped the ground, making the highway rattle again and cracks to form. But unlike earlier, where their strength had been applied without any real technique, he'd focused his power to a truly terrifying degree as one particular crack shot forth , passing under Jaune's feet and reaching a car that was not far off in the distance. There, the crack opened up a lot more and caught the car's front wheels, making it skid out of control and tip over onto its side, spinning several times before coming to a halt.

Only when this happened did the man's arm tense up as he prepared to throw the car he held and Jaune realized what was about to happen.

Sheathing his blade quickly, he reached out one hand as the man tossed the car right at him and succeeded in catching it, but the sheer force of the throw sent him and the car skidding back and he ended up slamming into the tipped over car, which he held out his other hand to.

Sparks and bits of steel went flying all around him as pieces of the cars broke off from the force. Even he had to take a knee to act as another buffer against the car in front of him. Only then did they all slow to an eventual halt.

Before he could even ask anyone in either car if they were okay, he felt his instincts scream at him that danger was incoming and so he had no choice but to push both cars to the side, out of the way of traffic lest they get caught up in either the battle itself or oncoming cars.

The very instant he did this, the man was already upon him, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and suddenly lifted him off the ground and high overhead. Jaune didn't even have time to react as he was slammed into the ground with devastating strength… and consequences.

"Congratulations," the man mocked harshly. "You've saved just a few lives… at the expense of many more."

Beneath them, one of the pillars that held up the highway could be heard and even felt rapidly breaking apart, the several 'quakes' their fight had had so far being more than enough for it to finally give up.

The pillar broke and this section of the highway, spanning for more than ten miles, began to collapse, sending them all plunging to the other highways nearby and below.

The two of them crashed onto one such highway and all around them, dozens of cars fell, the screams of the people within just barely audible over everything else going on.

Jaune was screaming too as a multitude of emotions overwhelmed him. Including one that he hadn't felt in a very long time -.

-Rage.

More and more of his latent power surged from within his soul, more than ever before and the next thing he knew, he launched a punch right at the man's face as he towered over him – and unlike before, where most of his attacks had done nothing to him, this blow really got to him for good.

The man grunted and groaned and was launched off for a solid mile, if not further, breaking the sound barrier in the process.

How far exactly the man ended up traveling and in what direction, Jaune didn't care. What he did care about was the people.

Just like that, his power had grown even more and he quickly put it to use, dashing off in a burst of speed that he's only ever dreamed of as a kid.

Running, he then leapt up and snatched one car out of the air and set it down on the ground and proceeded to do so again. Then again and again and again.

He was like a bolt of lightning, twisting and bending as he kicked off from one location to another to catch cars and place them well out of harm's way.

Before this moment, more than several dozen lives could've been lost just like that, but thanks to his sudden increase in power, he was able to drastically reduce that number…

…But not to zero.

As fast as he now was and as desperately as he was moving, there were just too many cars falling over too wide an area and by the time he'd even started moving, some cars have already ended up completing their fall of more than a few hundred meters to their untimely demises, the lives within perishing on impact.

He couldn't even begin to take solace in the fact that their deaths were quick.

And now, here he stood, all by himself in the middle of another highway as everyone else around him – the people he'd saved – frantically looked over one another, parents tending to their children and lovers making sure the other was still in one piece, the shock of what was going on too much for them to comprehend anything that had just happened beyond the fact that they'd damn well come all too close to death.

And off in the distance, he could still hear the battle raging on at city hall. And further up above, the Atlas fleet was mobilizing now, some of the ships heading for city hall while others flew further out, to the walls of Vale where more and more Grimm were no doubt being drawn here because of this catastrophe.

Jaune stood completely still as his mind tried to process all this. Then, after just several seconds, he tensed up fiercely, every muscle in his body bulging with power and rage. He was enraged. Even though he's been in plenty of situations over the years that would've sent anyone else into a mindless fury, he'd always been able to keep his calm to a degree, enough to focus on what had to be done.

But this?

This was angering him immensely. He knew not what issue that man had nor could he bring himself to care too much anymore.

What did matter to him was that the man seemingly held a grudge of some sort against him, a grudge that he was willing to cause so much harm to others just to fulfill.

This cannot stand. It _will not_ stand.

Drawing forth his blade and circulating aura within it, Jaune turned and faced the direction the man had gone flying off in, glaring in barely contained fury as if he was looking at the man himself.

Before, he'd always struck down 'evil' as a matter of necessity. But this time? This time, he would do so not just because it was necessary… but because now, there would be a not insignificant part of him that would feel better about it.

"Excuse me," he said to some people nearby, specifically a set of parents that was hugging their teenaged son fiercely in relief. "Please, call for any ambulances that are available. As for the police… they'll most likely be wrapped up with something else," he said with a hint of sadness as he focused for the moment on the people.

"O-Okay," spoke the father, his voice naturally shaky given what just happened. "A-And what about…?"

"Don't worry," Jaune said, interrupting the man but not unkindly as the seeds of rage took hold. "I'll be dealing with the one responsible for this."

And with that statement – no, _promise_ – made, Jaune ran off into the distance.

* * *

Hazel grunted as he got back up, rubbing his jaw and feeling the blood drippling lightly down his lip.

Unbelievable, that damned slave had managed to draw blood from him.

It'd been one thing for him to be hurt since the boy had succeeded in at least that much during their first fight, but not to this extent.

His strength truly had grown since then, even more so just a moment ago.

"Hmph!" Hazel wiped the blood away and then tore off his coat to expose the plain dark green undershirt he wore beneath.

He then reached into the pockets on his pants, which had remained secure this whole time and pulled out a few of his most prized possessions-.

-Dust crystals.

He looked down at them with just a slight sense of disbelief despite having full well done this consciously.

To think that boy's strength would become great enough to warrant this.

In spite of what just happened, Hazel was certain that he still held the strength, but not to the same extent anymore. Combined with the fact that the boy was also familiar with his usual way of fighting already in addition to now being able to bypass his aura _and_ his semblance, well… now was no longer a time to be restricting himself to brute strength alone.

The man suddenly looked up as he heard a boom – a sonic boom, to be more precise. And it had been from somewhere not too far ahead. Looks like Jaune Arc was coming straight for him.

Fine then, he thought with a growl, let's do this.

His semblance had been given the all too ironic name of Invincible Hero long ago in his past, coined by some of the very first few people that he'd ever helped.

Its function was incredibly simple – it imposed unto him the very concepts of invincibility. No weapon will ever pierce his flesh, no force can ever budge him when he's standing still nor slow him when he's moving. Once he begins an attack, slowing much less stopping it was impossible. He was a true juggernaut and when combined with his combat prowess, he was unbeatable for all intents and purposes.

Or so it would seem in theory. In practice, well, for the most part, it still did exactly that. However, it did have a limit, that being that if struck with enough force, he can be slowed, can be stopped and even wounded. But of course, this defense was separate from the defense provided by aura and he himself was a naturally hardy person, thus the amount of force needed to bypass his semblance, aura, and natural toughness was well beyond anything most could ever output.

That isn't to say there'd never been any force great enough to at least slow him down in the past prior to now, but never to the point of actually harming him. In those cases, it wouldn't surprise him one bit if those people had thought him to merely be immune to pain or something stupid like that.

That Jaune Arc now seemed to possess strength great enough to harm him for real in spite of these three defenses only highlighted his threat level now… and only made Hazel hate the boy more.

To think that such a foolish slave of a boy now had it in him to actually be a threat… it angered Hazel anymore than ever before.

He could not abide the existence of that faker any longer.

He held two Dust crystals in each hand and with out making a single grunt, he jammed them into his forearms. His semblance was a passive one, but through enough concentration, he can forcibly deactivate, just long enough for him to inject himself.

And the effects were immediate as the Dust crystals – lightning in nature – now sent their power through his whole body.

Dust was a truly mysterious thing. No one knew its exact origins, could only ever guess fruitlessly as to why or how it ever formed. But through all the centuries of study, humanity had come to learn how to harness Dust to the point where Dust was an integral part of civilization. It fueled homes and weapons and other miscellaneous things.

But there was a reason why no one ever did what he just did. To simply tap into the power Dust via a conduit such as a weapon of some kind was one thing. To directly take in the power of Dust was another.

In small amounts, injecting or ingesting Dust can provide incredible amounts of power and at no real drawbacks… aside from feeling as though one's blood was replaced with magma. But do so continuously and people could end up crippled for life and with drastically shortened lifespans on top of that… and those who ended up suffering such effects were considered the lucky ones.

Taking in large amounts of Dust would kill a person outright and it would not by any means be a painless death. And by 'large amounts,' the generally agreed upon consensus was two-thirds of an average sized Dust crystal.

And here he was injecting himself with _four_ large Dust Crystals.

The pain he was in was a familiar one – this was hardly the first time he's done this, after all. But even then, he howled in a combination that was equal parts agony and rage. The power it was now providing him contained no sense of euphoria, but only seemed to exacerbate his negative feelings that much more.

In this state, he could no longer really be called a man, not in mindset.

And as that boy finally appeared in his field of view, Hazel let loose another howl, this one of pure undiluted hatred.

" _Come!"_ he yelled, his voice distorted from a mixture of the Dust crystals' effects and the sheer volume at which he yelled it out.

Lightning crackled all around him now, generated by his own body. So great was the intensity that the collapsed building he was in ended up immediately melting whenever a bolt of lightning made contact with the rubble.

This was not by any means an act of intimidation – he knew all too well by now that no such thing would ever rattle his hated target.

But it was nonetheless a declaration of challenge and it was one that was accepted readily.

The boy, who'd been charging right at him this whole time, put on yet another impossible burst of speed as golden aura poured off his form. Even his normally light blue eyes glowed with an unnaturally golden tint.

Hazel reared back a lightning coated fist just as Jaune Arc readied an aura coated blade.

The two launched their attacks at the exact same time and their blows immediately came to a clash.

And with this, their second battle began in earnest.

* * *

Cinder moved quickly and quietly, Emerald and Mercury not far behind her. They were taking quite a long route right now, one that led through part of Forever Falls and through the forest Beacon uses for its initiations.

Because the surrounding territory was now somewhat familiar to the raven-haired woman due to her last time here, she was able to move quite nimbly and without pause for anything, be it thick tree roots bursting out of the ground or Grimm.

Overhead, she could clearly see the Atlas airships that surrounded Beacon begin to move out, well, some of them at least. But it more than made a difference. The less ships around Beacon, the weaker their perimeter and the easier they'll be able to sneak in for good this time. That she could also spot some bullheads taking off as well – no doubt carrying some of those foolish students who wished to be heroes – was yet another boon.

It ought to go without saying now that things were going off without a hitch… so far. She was far from superstitious, but somehow she felt wary of being jinxed. Given how many times her plans have been disrupted when she'd thought them infallible, life had gone out of its way to prove her wrong and in one particular form too-.

-That of one Jaune Arc, a blond that should now be dealt with by both Hazel and Neo.

Or so she was hoping, not that she'd ever voice such a thought aloud; even if Watts and Hazel seemed to share her concern over that boy's interference again, she'd rather die than outright say anything resembling worry aloud, not within potential earshot of Watts.

"Ma'am?"

"It's nothing, Emerald. Stay focused."

"Yes, ma'am."

Emerald suddenly calling out to her had naturally been unexpected, but a nice convenience – they were approaching the same path they'd taken up to Beacon's grounds and began to scale it, using the thick shrubbery all around them as cover.

It was risky, doing this so early in the afternoon. Though night was quicker to come around this time of year and it was rather cloudy, she'd have preferred the cover of night in its entirety. Sadly, as she had long since realized, Adam's rather ingenious plan this time around – relative for him, of course – _was_ the perfect cover due to all the chaos it was clearly successful at creating. And besides, even if she tried this at night, she'd still have to be extremely wary due to all the Faunus students and their damned night vision.

At least right now, Beacon itself would be in an uproar, which would make slipping in all the easier.

Approaching Beacon now, she halted in her tracks and motioned for Emerald and Mercury to stop as well. Upon doing so, she then gestured for Emerald to scan ahead.

The girl's semblance was a truly useful one, not only able to implant hallucinations in people's minds to screw with their senses, but also giving the girl something akin to a radar sense for the minds of nearby people. It was far from an absolute detection ability, with the range being very brief and sometimes wonky to paraphrase the girl, but it was enough to get the job done most of the time.

Emerald concentrated for a solid minute before ceasing in this endeavor and nodding her head calmly.

Cinder smirked a bit – good, it would seem the immediate coast was clear.

Climbing up, she was the first of the three to stand once again upon official Beacon grounds and lo and behold, she was not too far off from the path she'd taken last time to just outside Beacon's CCT.

Perfect. The bullhead platforms were roughly on that side as well, which meant however many students and faculty were being sent out to assist in either quelling the White Fang or suppressing the surge of Grimm that the chaos has brought on will be running off to that side rather than here.

This didn't mean this entire section of Beacon was clear, however, for there were people – students, faculty, and Atlas soldiers alike – still around.

Cinder was quick to move to the shadows of the nearest building and her subordinates did likewise, albeit at another building in the opposite direction, whereupon the trio waited in silence as the crowd of people went on their way.

Thanks to the virus Watts had made for her and had been successfully installed in Beacon last time, Cinder didn't concern herself with any cameras watching her – she'd made sure to manipulate said cameras to wipe clean any traces of their presence every few seconds. Assuming, of course, she or her subordinates even allow themselves within line any camera's field of view.

Again, she would never say it aloud, but Watt's handiwork was proving its worth very well. For in addition to providing her just about every file Beacon had in its systems, now that she was this close to the CCT, she could access so many more functions that she wouldn't have been able to use if she'd tried this out in Vale itself.

If she really wanted to, she could switch off all the cameras – which would only be noticed far too quickly and warrant Ozpin and his circle to go on high alert, thus was not an option – or otherwise tamper with the other facilities here. Hell, if she really wanted to, she could override those impractical rocket lockers of the students and send them flying everywhere. But again, much like the idea of fiddling with the cameras too much, doing so was not an option lest she make those pathetic people aware of a threat on campus.

The coast clear, Cinder practically sauntered forth into the nearest building and her subordinates dutifully followed. She wasn't even the slightest bit worried over losing track of where she was going, for she'd made sure to download the blueprints of the entire campus, which naturally functioned as a detailed map.

"So, where do you think they've the woman at?" Mercury asked with a bit of a quirked eyebrow.

Ah, and there was the purpose of all this. While she'd very much have liked to see for herself the demise of Jaune Arc, she was prioritizing the Maiden first – if she hadn't tried this, there was no telling when else would be the best possible time to go looking for her, especially not with what her master had planned soon approaching.

And once more, the control granted to her by Watts' virus had proven to be a massive boon. While there obviously was no hidden files on Amber nor any mention anywhere of possible secret rooms, simply by pouring over the blueprints with a nearly fanatical zeal had allowed Cinder to swiftly eliminate the number of places Amber could be holed up in. Being able to make the 2-d blueprint 3-d and see for herself every single room the structures had had made inferring the number of spots much easier.

But… even without such aid, Cinder had already had an idea of where Amber might be from the very start.

There was no way Ozpin would let the nearly dead Maiden be too far out of his personal reach, not after what had happened to her. Thus, he obviously couldn't have placed her in the care of any hospital nor personal care of any doctor he may know. He would never turn Amber over to Ironwood either; he may trust the man a great deal, but not completely, though that was due less to any of the general's many faults and due more to the many past lives the wizard had already lived through.

"Now, Mercury," she began in an almost teasing tone, this moment of approaching victory making her feel a bit more like her old self, from before her plans had to started to derail. "I'd thought a big boy like you would already have an idea on where to start."

She then motioned to her left, a direction they'd yet to travel in but soon will once they clear this hallway.

She was obviously not referring to any place within this building nor any of the other buildings nearby.

And Mercury picked up on this quickly enough. "…Oh." He smirked. It would seem her mood was a bit infectious. "Right, right. I guess I should have known from the start."

Emerald, also feeling invigored, rolled her eyes at the grey-haired teen. "As if you've ever known anything other than being a punk."

The teen just quietly laughed it off.

Cinder shook her head at what could very well be the start of one of a new argument between her subordinates… but even then, she was smiling in growing delight.

As the panic in Vale spread more and more rapidly by the minute and with Beacon and Atlas alike sending out people to deal with it, Cinder picked up her pace as the coast was clear…

And she wasted not a second longer before making a beeline right for Ozpin's tower.

* * *

 **To address any confusion over Jaune feeling so enraged now, there's actually a number of reasons why this makes sense. First and foremost, pure character growth – in the very beginning of this fic, he was damn near close to a machine in terms of thoughts, if only when it concerned a particular task at hand. But through interacting with others, especially his friends, he was able to slowly begin an admittedly (but intentionally) haphazard transition to a more 'human' mindset.**

 **Additionally, consider this: as he's made aware through conversations with others and through his own narration, he is well aware that the world is far from a perfect place. He's by no means naïve – he knows all too well the sort of atrocities and horrors others can and will commit, be it out of desperation or genuine dark glee.**

 **To him, those that like to throw their weight around and then get furious when they feel slighted is nothing new in life. We've seen characters like this all the time in all forms of fiction. Thus, he's not really bothered by it, even if/when such characters form a beef with him for varying levels of petty reasons and end up carrying out horrific acts in response to their self-perceived slights.**

 **However, in Hazel's case, it's a bit different – you see, Hazel is not like those types of characters, not typically. He has confidence in his strength but doesn't boast of it nor even take much pride in it. He's not going to get murderously and sadistically enraged if someone refuses to acknowledge him or his strength nor is he going to lose his shit over someone bumping into him or whatever. And him ever feeling envious or hateful of others for possessing traits he doesn't (be it good looks or certain skills or whatever) is a truly laughable thought.**

 **Thus, Jaune is supremely confused by the man. Guys like Cardin, now those he's used to. He can understand guys like that, even if he himself doesn't realize some of these people are jealous of him for his looks/strength/whatever (again, this is due to his own warped mentality).**

 **In Hazel's case though, the man hates him for reasons that Jaune himself is only partially aware of and this partial awareness is only because he himself realizes he's a slave to his semblance. That Hazel takes such extreme offense to this and is clearly willing to cause him and others great harm and has made several hate-filled yet insightful comments has really left Jaune feeling rattled.**

 **And now that Hazel has entered his life yet again and this time in the form of intentionally fighting him in the middle of Vale in the midst of the White Fang's attack, well, something within Jaune, that very same part of him that had been left rattled by their first encounter and the other traumas he's been forcibly suppressing as a result of his semblance's mental pollution, is beginning to spill forth.**

 **Now… as to what sort of changes Jaune's psychological state will be undergoing in the immediate aftermath of all this… well, naturally, that's something that shall remain secret for now.**

 **TLDR - Jaune can normally figure out why someone may hate him, regardless if it's valid or not. Can't figure out Hazel though and the fact it's also causing so much harm to others is causing him to mentally 404.**

 **Anyways, sorry for such a longwinded explanation. Just though I should clear that up in case of any confusion. Hope it makes sense and was enjoyable.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	34. Chapter 34

So, this chapter is going to be much like the chapter where Jaune and Hazel squared off last time – a lengthy one, at least in comparison to the usual length of my chapters. Their battle will also be the main focus of this chapter too, so there won't really be many scene changes like usual, that way the flow isn't broken up too many times. That isn't to say that I'm just going to ignore everything else going on, but it will be addressed at a more appropriate time.

Also, to those of you wondering if this current incident will be this fic's version of the Fall of Beacon in canon, well, you'll see, heh.

Now then, not to sound like I'm being an alarmist or just generally paranoid here, but be careful out there, everyone!

Now, onto the chapter!

P.S. So, am I the only one that freaked the hell out over how cool the Spawn trailer was for MK11?

Chapter 34

As their initial attacks clashed against one another, Jaune saw up close the change the man had undergone in this short time span. He recognized the unnatural energy signature Dust sometimes gave off and it was pouring off his foe in waves now, made all the more evident as he tried to force his blade to cut through the man's lightning enhanced fist.

Letting loose a mighty roar and with ever growing power, Jaune pushed forward – and managed to push the man back just a bit, his blade even beginning to cut into his flesh just a bit.

But only a bit.

Sensing that he was going to lose this initial clash, the man suddenly pulled his fist back and tried to swat his blade to the side, but Jaune pulled back as well to avoid that. But just as he did so, the man lashed out with his other fist and fired a multitude of genuine lightning bolts from it.

They were immediately attracted by the metal that obviously made up Jaune's sword, said weapon acting as a lightning rod. By all rights, he should just drop the weapon, but he didn't. And so, when the bolts struck the blade, their powerful currents flowed through the blade and into him.

Clothes and hair began to burn. Flesh fried and his veins felt like they were boiling. His organ cooked. The pain was undoubtedly immense.

And yet, the blond teen didn't even so much as he grunt in acknowledgement of his agony. Instead, he tried to blitz his enemy from the side, feinting a swing to grab the man's attention only to then go for go a sudden high kick that landed against the chin of the much larger man.

The man grunted, more in surprise rather than pain and reeled, but still threw a punch that Jaune couldn't stop in time and so he too got struck alongside the face.

Jaune stood his ground though, even as said ground quaked with tremendous force, and upon swiftly switching his sword to a reverse grip, he swung at an angle and caught the man with the back of his blade. Enhanced by aura and swung with all his might and momentum, it still managed to cut into the man's torso a bit, but primarily launched him through the building they were in.

The man went careening through wall after wall until he was out in the streets. Thankfully, with all the chaos city hall was undergoing as well as the work day being over for most people, this area was pretty much empty at this time, meaning he didn't have to worry much for anyone else getting caught up in this horrid mess.

Rather than give chase, he swung his blade twice, unleashing waves of pure aura that traveled at a speed great enough to rival lightning itself.

Unfortunately, his foe was quick enough in getting back on his feet and raised both of his thick arms in time to guard.

Jaune immediately charged at him and went in for a stab to the heart… only for the man to reach out with one hand and grip his hands whilst twisting his upper body out of the way with a speed no one that big should have. Jaune tried to break free, but before he could even mount any kind of struggle, the man had retaliated with an uppercut to his stomach. And just before impact, he fired a massive bolt of lightning that practically tore through the blond and came out his back.

By all rights, he should've gone flying. He nearly did too. However, he had a death grip on his blade and so did the man, having apparently been expecting him to let go and thus disarm. When that didn't happen, Jaune took advantage of the man's microsecond long pause of shock and launched a kick from his awkward position to the man's crotch.

The impact was louder than thunder and succeeded in bringing the man down and getting him to loosen his grip considerably. Not completely, but enough for Jaune to pull his blade free and start swinging with a fury unlike anything he's ever felt before.

The first dozen or so slashes tore up the man's body well, cutting into his flesh with greater and greater ease as Jaune's strength and speed continually grew. But after such a precious few seconds, the man recovered and let loose a roar of pure defiance. Lightning poured off him in all directions and it was enough to force Jaune off.

One lightning bolt had nailed him right in the face, making his eyes nearly burst and thus he was blinded temporarily. Even then, he was already moving on pure instinct as he detected incoming danger. Alas, he wasn't quick enough and the man rammed him hard, throwing him off balance before delivering several fast hooks that pulverized Jaune's already creaking bones.

After one final blow that forced Jaune onto a knee, the man then delivered a punt kick that caught him under the chin and nearly snapped his head all the way back. But Jaune rolled with it, actually rolling backwards several feet before getting back up.

"You…!" Jaune began, only to not finish. He didn't even know what to say at this point. That said, he still took action and in the form of throwing his sword directly at the man.

It was a perfect throw, the blade travelling like a javelin towards the man's throat at breakneck speed. But the man merely backhanded it and sent it flying some odd meters to his left.

This proved to be a mistake on his part, however, one that Jaune had unconsciously intended for the man to make.

In that instant where the man had reared back his arm to deflect his sword, he'd ended up obscuring his own vision in the process.

Jaune capitalized on this by darting forth and leaping up. His knee slammed into the man's throat before his arm could even fully complete its swing and then he latched both legs around the now disoriented man and fell backwards, using his strength and the man's now off balanced state to flip him.

The two went crashing to the ground and Jaune was atop his enemy. Scooching down a bit so that he was now atop the man's chest, he promptly smashed a fist right into his nose, hard enough to fracture it. He didn't stop there though and threw as many punches as he could to his face and neck.

He scored some good hits before the man brought up a hand to guard one punch that would've otherwise struck his eye and then dodged Jaune's next punch by shifting his whole body to the right. The result was Jaune's blow striking the ground directly. The crater that had already formed from the flip and initial punches got much bigger as he accidentally struck it, sending debris flying directly into his own face.

That was when the man launched a powerful hook into his side that blew him right off, but Jaune rolled even as he smashed through the entirety of another office building and got back up in time to duck under the large haymaker the man threw his way upon chasing after him. Jaune then bounced up and swung upwards, his fist connecting with the man's underarm. This sent the attacking limb up, but the man quickly readjusted his balance and just delivered a blow with his other arm that Jaune just barely blocked.

Even then as he went skidding, he remained standing and when the man shot out two quick lightning bolts, Jaune grabbed a nearby scrap of metal that had once been part of the building and flung it off to the distance. The bolts curved in their path slightly to follow the metal, giving him plenty of room to maneuver and he leapt first to his left before leaping again, towards his foe.

The man threw an upwards punch as he closed the distance and Jaune responded by flipping forward in midair, avoiding the punch by a hair's breath before delivering an axe-kick that struck the man in the right shoulder.

It barely budged him, however, and the man just let loose another growl, more distorted than before, as he grabbed Jaune by the leg and spun him around, all the while pumping lightning directly into him.

His leg burned fiercely, to the point where it felt like it might just snap right off now due to the combination of sizzling flesh and bone and the man's own strength, but before such a thing could possibly happen, Jaune got thrown up and at an angle and he went sailing through yet another building, only coming to a stop after smashing all the way through to its rooftop.

Said rooftop was easily fourteen stories above ground, to give an idea of how far he'd traveled.

He was bloodied, battered, and partly cooked, but even then his own aura which was still gushing out, worked overtime. His wounds were healing rapidly, but it would be a while before he was back to normal.

A length of time that his still unnamed foe would not grant him. Not that Jaune particularly paid much attention to this fact anyways.

The man, clearly some odd floors below him now, fired upwards with multiple lightning bolts and Jaune danced upon the roof, avoiding the blasts as they shot through all the floors to get to him. The rooftop was quickly deteriorating as a result.

And this fact he did pay much attention to.

After jumping to avoid one more bolt that would've struck his side, he stomped hard upon landing and brought the whole rooftop crashing down. All that rubble struck the now equally ruined floor directly below it and sent that crashing down as well, setting off a chain reaction.

And just like that, the whole building just threw in the towel.

Jaune leapt from one piece of debris to another to avoid being buried underneath it all. The same seemingly couldn't be said for his foe, however, at least not from the looks of it. Upon landing, the blond scanned the ruined area intently for any trace of the man, not buying for even a nanosecond that he'd been beaten.

Sure enough, his instincts warned him of danger and he started to move – but didn't prove quick enough as a bolt of lightning shot forth from somewhere behind him and struck him right in between his shoulder blades.

Additionally, he was knocked right off his feet and went crashing face first into the ground after tumbling a few dozen meters. He didn't even get enough time to even begin getting up when a huge foot slammed into the back of his head.

"You pathetic fool!" the man yelled, his voice once again growing increasing distorted. "Is this all you can ever amount to in the pursuit of your blind justice?!"

Normally, Jaune didn't speak much with those that clearly needed to be put down and whenever he did, it'd always been in a calm but admittedly forceful tone. But this time was much different. "Just why do you even hate him me so much?!" he growled out in supreme annoyance and befuddlement as he forced himself up.

The man tried to stomp again, but Jaune moved his head out of the way, latched onto the man's ankle and then swung himself around, his own legs smashing into the man's other foot. It caught him off guard and sent him crashing down.

Unlike before, where he'd mounted him, Jaune got up, his grip still on the man's ankle. Lifting the leg a little higher, he stomped on the back of the man's now exposed knee and then punched the side of said knee, hoping to break it.

He didn't, but there was a slight cracking noise, indicating the beginnings of a breakage.

He would've gone for another attack, but the man lashed out with his free leg in an attempt to stop him. But Jaune saw it coming and caught it, stopping the attack cold.

Only for the man to then twist at the waist and flip himself over, taking Jaune with him. He squeezed his legs, trying to pin Jaune, but the blond forced his way out and while still on the ground, suddenly kicked outwards twice, hoping to get the man in the gut.

The man rolled out of the way and got back up first and then threw a kick that caught Jaune in the side of the ribs, cracking them lightly in addition to obviously sending him soaring once more.

Jaune grunted in exertion as he spun around, turning the momentum to his advantage as he landed on his feet not unlike how a cat would, only to then lean to his left to avoid a bolt of lightning.

Two more bolts quickly followed as the man closed the gap between them, only for his attention to then be suddenly switched over to something else.

Jaune saw it too – his sword. By sheer dumb luck, it looks like the man had succeeded in sending him in the same general direction he'd knocked his weapon in.

It was now suddenly a race for his blade. In the case of the man, who was further away from the weapon, he fired a huge bolt of lightning that would undoubtedly destroy the sword entirely.

In Jaune's case, however, he was much closer and his speed was now such that he could close such a gap just before the lightning could strike it. He did so successfully and unconsciously began to circulate aura within his weapon.

He's learned his lesson from the last time they'd fought – before, he'd just flood his weapons with aura, run the risk of essentially overloading them and thereby breaking them. But this time around, with only the one blade left, he instead just poured a set amount of aura within it and circulated it, not unlike how blood circulates through a living body.

The result was a weapon that boasted far greater durability and cutting power than it would possess without aura. The only exception is that Jaune would need to concentrate this whole time to make sure he doesn't screw up the regulation by cutting off the aura feed or forcing too much into it.

But that's okay – he'd already figured out a way to deal with the latter of the two scenarios.

A solution that he now demonstrated as he closed the distance between him and the man.

Pouring an absurd amount of aura into his blade, he promptly unleashed all this excess when he swung. But rather than unleash in a wave of aura like he normally would, he instead focus all this aura alongside the blade's already sharp edge.

The result spoke for itself as it cut cleanly into the man's arm as he brought it up to guard. And it was by no means a shallow wound either.

The man howled in shock and pain as the blade cut through most of his arm, easily reaching bone and cutting through most of it in one smooth motion.

"You…!" the man growled before unleashing another burst of pure lightning from his whole body. But this time, Jaune was ready for it and leapt back, just out of range of the lightning.

However, just one bolt was able to reach for him… at which point, in his single-minded focus on defeating this man right now, he proceeded to perform an impossible feat.

Just as the bolt was about to get past the range he could comfortably swing his sword within, Jaune suddenly swung twice and proceeded to cleanly cut the lightning bolt itself into four pieces that then sputtered out of existence.

"What?!" The man looked genuinely surprised now by this absurdity, his pain seemingly forgotten about for now.

This was a look Jaune found himself finding some quiet relishing in. And surprisingly, seeing the man's expression lose that hate filled edge to it, if only for a brief moment, was enough to calm him somewhat as well. Not completely, of course, but enough for him to no longer be nearly blinded by such rage.

"…I remember what you said to me, back in Sol," Jaune started as he took up a defensive stance, glaring all the while at the man. "Every single word… you know, don't you?"

He spoke of his semblance and its mental pollution. Whether or not the man himself had gone through something similar, he couldn't say… but he did know now that the man was aware that he wasn't quite always in control of his own actions.

And judging by the look on his enigmatic foe's face now, it seemed like he was right.

"…Like I said before, you're no hero, boy. You're a slave," the man practically spat out. "I could tell just by looking at you – you barely possess any will at all, not in any way that matters. And you know it too, don't you? That for the rest of your life that you're going to be engaging in this pathetic hero play without any concern for yourself. Or, more specifically, that you can't feel any concern for what's been done to you… and what will be done to you."

Ever since the awakening of his aura and semblance, Jaune has done practically everything he's done out of an all-consuming compulsion to help others, to strike down evil and all those that posed an otherwise unchangeable threat to others. It'd been impossible for him to even try fighting this compulsion, couldn't even fathom a reason as to _why_ he even should in the first place. Whatever autonomy he may have possessed as a kid, whatever other dreams or desires he may have or could have possessed later in life… that all died the very instant he'd awakened his semblance.

And what was the true tragedy of it all is that Jaune knew this. He was not oblivious at all to this change in him. He was all too aware that whatever parts of him that could still act like a normal human were either being suppressed the hell out of or were just straight out nonexistent now.

Whatever possibilities he could've had in life had long since been sacrificed in the name of the greater good… something that bothered his family greatly, bothered his team now that they were catching onto the full extent of his abnormality…

And it would seem that it bothered this man too, but in a way that differed significantly from the others.

"What's it matter to you?" Jaune quietly asked, his expression surprisingly bitter though only for a second. "I've never met you before in my life prior to Sol. I imagine that this could be said for you too – up until Sol, you've never met me, never even knew of me. So, why? Why all this hatred? Why go to these lengths? Just… just look!"

Having been gripping his blade with both hands, he undid his grip on it with his left hand and motioned off to the distance, where the sounds of chaos can still be heard even from here. Shouting and crying and gunfire and explosions. A cacophony of roars from the Grimm could also be heard as well, the sheer number of Grimm out past Vale's walls being more than enough for their combined cries of murderous rage to reach even this far into the kingdom.

"What could possibly be worth going to these lengths?!" Jaune cried out to the man. "Is whatever goal you have truly so great that it's not a problem for you to endanger so many people?!"

"I don't care about what happens to others," the man suddenly shot back in that distorted voice of his and with a firmness that left the blond teen genuinely shaken. And then the man continued in a much softer voice, a bitter voice. "…Not anymore, that is. Not since…"

The man shook his head after trailing off.

"All this doesn't matter anyway," he continued after a second, seemingly regaining his composure. "No matter how many people live or die today, she'll come in due time. And when she does, it'll be over for everyone in this kingdom."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. 'She?' Was this really a time for vague pronouns?

"Not even a fool like you would be able to stop Salem," the man continued, practically rambling on at this point. At least Jaune's unspoken question got answered… and what an answer it was. "But I won't – can't – feel at peace if I let her or someone else do this instead."

"Do what?" Jaune demanded as he took a step forward, ready to respond to whatever attack would undoubtedly be coming. He also desperately wished to ask the man about the name of 'Salem,' for it surely couldn't be a coincidence that there'd be two people out there with such an unusual name. Was this Salem the same one the headmaster apparently knew of…?

Alas, this was one question he couldn't utter out in time, for the man responded to his question.

"Kill you," the man growled out as aura and lightning suddenly radiated off his form.

It was enough to actually catch Jaune off guard a bit, but his instincts, ever so sharp, warned him immediately of danger and he immediately raised his blade to block whatever was coming-.

-Except, for once, his instincts were wrong.

During this momentary blindness, the man had reached into his pockets and pulled out two large Dust crystals, fire types.

The man then jabbed them right into the sides of his arms and the last thing Jaune saw was the man's very body seemingly absorbing the crystals in their entirety…

Right before his foe seemed to practically explode. All the blond saw immediately afterwards was nothing but a storm of lightning and flames.

* * *

"…" Watts made a rather complicated sound as he watched what was taking place on the multitude of still intact cameras.

So completely engrossed was he that if Cinder tried contacting him, it would have gone completely unnoticed.

He'd expected quite the show when Hazel had dragged Jaune Arc off to do battle, but what he'd seen so far had blown all expectations he'd held right out of the water.

As the former Atlas scientist had noted much earlier, Hazel and Jaune Arc were aberrations of a sort, possessing power far greater than the norm established throughout these past eras. To know of this on a purely intellectual level was one thing, but to see the sort of power they were wielding, the kind of speed they moved at and the sheer resiliency they possessed was just unreal. While a number of the more elite huntsmen out there would be capable of keeping up with either combatant's speed, matching their brute strength or attempting to put them down through repeated strikes would be nigh-impossible.

Moreover…

"What… ferocity…" he'd murmured at some point. The cameras throughout that whole area were of considerable quality, but there was naturally a limit to the level of speed they can capture. Thus, most of the battle had been unseeable. Had he been there up close and personal, he'd have no trouble seeing what was going on, but alas this was the limit of this type of technology.

But in any case, what he had seen… it just boggled his mind. Despite Hazel's tall and heavily appearance, he was a man of considerable martial skill, utilizing his great strength and surprising speed to deliver heavy but supremely precise blows to cripple and kill enemies quickly.

Thus, to see him and his young enemy exchange attacks so wildly and with little regard for actual defense had been just as much a shock to him as their power had been. So lost in rage were the two that it just didn't seem to register at all for either one to take a more calculated approach to this battle.

But now though… that has changed.

After the two had taken a moment to surprisingly talk – it was surely not an amicable chat, Watts could tell – his associate and Jaune Arc seemed to have reined themselves in a fair bit. Oh, there was no mistaking the rage that still burned deeply within their eyes, a rage that put the 'rage of fiery flames' Cinder liked to boast of so much to absolute shame.

Even after Hazel had injected himself with two more Dust crystals, Watts could clearly see the man rein in the sudden rush of additional power and begin to apply it more liberally than ever before, starting off with the generation of ash of all things to cloud the whole area.

Not even a few seconds after doing so, Watts zoomed in just in time to see the vague shape of Hazel rush in and deliver a powerful haymaker to Jaune Arc, whose form was illuminated for the briefest of seconds when the flames generated at the last possible instant by Hazel's fist clashed against the boy's blade.

This… this was proving to be a far better treat than the former Atlas scientist could have ever imagined. His hope that it would provide him much needed data to complete his project once he's reobtained it may not have been a small hope after all.

With a giddiness that he hasn't feel in ages, Watts continued his viewing of the battle, wondering what other insights he could gain from it.

"Give me a grand show, you two…" he murmured with made glee.

* * *

Power greater than ever before coursed through him, to a point where he, Hazel, nearly lost himself in an impenetrable haze.

But just before he'd lost himself, he'd reined in that power and had been quick to capitalize on the boy's confusion and brief blindness.

Fire crystals can do more than just produce flames – with enough power and control, generating even ash or outright magma would be possible. The latter was not something quite within his ability to do, but the former very much was, thus his opening move.

Alas, even after producing a thick cloud of ash to further obscure the boy's field of view, the blond had still been able to ward off the following punch.

But Hazel wasn't deterred. Pulling back, he circled around the boy with inhuman grace for one his size and landed a heavy body blow to Jaune Arc's side.

The hit blew the blond dozens of meters away and dissipated the cloud of ash a bit, but Hazel wasn't worried. Though anger still coursed through him, he was thinking with a clear head now. He wouldn't lose himself like he had just moments earlier.

Moreover though, he'd slipped up – uttered Salem's name. He knew not what, if anything, Jaune would do with just a name, but there was no telling now what the boy would get up to in due time. Now more than ever, the boy had to die.

And he'll be the one to do the job. Not that Neo girl, assuming she was even alive still after being grazed by an attack like that, nor Salem herself.

Hazel began to lumber forth as he observed Jaune landed on his feet. The boy's sword glowed with unbridled power and he unleashed it without hesitation, not to attack him, but to instead focus on blowing away the ash.

But Hazel wouldn't let things be that easy. For quite some time now, a change had been coming over him, ever since he'd first started his Dust injections all those years ago. And just now, when he'd injected the fire Dust crystals, he'd felt a definite shift in the very core of his soul.

He was changing. In what ways and into what exactly, he knew not nor cared. As long as he could accomplish his goals, it didn't matter.

What did matter though was how beneficial these changes were; aside from an increase to his physical parameters to better match the boy's ever-growing power, something about the Dust itself was reacting oddly within him.

And so, with an unconscious wave of his hand, the cloud of ash bent to his will, spreading out of his volition before suddenly forming around the boy.

Then, with just a snap of his fingers, he ignited the ash.

A cascade of explosions, each one powerful enough to bring down even Atlas' tallest and most enduring skyscrapers, went off. Despite their power, the explosions were small, focused as they were intended to do as much damage as possible to the boy.

It went without saying that it wouldn't be enough, however.

Sure enough, Jaune leapt out of the series of explosions, his clothes torn and burned and fried, but ultimately the boy himself was looking a hell of a lot better than ever before. It would seem that his power had now grown to the point where not even an attack on this level can do any substantial damage to his body anymore.

No matter. He won't back down either.

Growling in challenge, Hazel charged at the boy and concentrated lightning into his arms before firing several bolts directly at his hated enemy.

Just like before, the blond teen pulled off an impossible feat, actually slicing the lightning bolts into nothingness and all without even missing a step anymore. And when Hazel followed this up with a sudden fireball, he bore witness to the sight of Jaune physically knocking the flames away with a sudden backhand, the flames being destroyed as though they were a solid object when they obviously weren't.

But again, it mattered not.

The two of them were in the center of a vast parking lot, long since abandoned. And as they met in the very center of it, they attacked.

Hazel threw two lightning quick punches, aiming for the boy's left eye and his kidneys. But the blond dodged with minimal movement and retaliated with several short swings of his blade that would've cut out his throat and artery in his upper right leg if he hadn't pulled back in time.

It's been a long time since he's ever felt the genuine need to dodge, thanks to the combination of his semblance, aura, and natural toughness. That he still needed to dodge in spite of his own abnormal increases in power just now said something about Jaune Arc's might.

As he stepped back, Hazel lashed out with a sudden kick as Jaune tried to get in close. However, the teen merely dodged and swung his blade horizontally and managed to cut him across the stomach. The cut was so clean that it generated no sound at all in the process and it took a solid second for blood to spew out, a result of how deep the injury turned out to be.

Hissing in pain, Hazel returned the favor. Despite his skill in unarmed and thus close quarters combat, he knew that he was a bulky man. Surprising speed or not, he can't just fight in the same way a person with a much slimmer physique could pull off, and so twisting to deliver short punches was not an option.

But he was no longer limited to just physical blows alone.

With nary a thought, Hazel opened his mouth as wide as he could – and out spewed a torrent of flames that quickly spread out for tens of meters.

Jaune was engulfed in the flames and Hazel didn't miss the way the boy was literally being fried… though he could also see the wounds slowly stop spreading, a sign of his increasing physical toughness nor did he miss the wounds slowly closing up, showing that the boy's absurd healing was also getting faster.

The blond leapt up, golden aura pouring off his form to such a degree that it was almost blinding by this point, especially with how cloudy and dark this afternoon still was. And as if taking note of this, the boy let out a roar and the amount of aura pouring off him increased even more, as did its luminescence.

Hazel was forced to close his eyes and even raise an arm up to provide additional cover lest his eyeballs be burned out. But even then, he still retaliated.

Once in the air, you're at the whims of gravity and physics. As absurd an existence as Jaune Arc, not even he could just change directions at the drop of a hate in mid-descent.

Certain of this, Hazel thrust his free hand outwards and fired a huge blast of lightning, the familiar screeching sound of lightning filling his ears – only for it to suddenly disappear as Jaune no doubt cut it up into nothing.

"Hmph!" Hazel had already been backpedaling as he'd done this, but now he outright leapt back and just in time as Jaune could be heard landing and swinging his blade at the spot he'd just been in.

However, even though he'd missed, Jaune had apparently accounted for this, for another oddity occurred. The very air itself had been cut and a vacuum effect occurred.

So strong was its pull that Hazel had to plant himself firmly lest he be pulled in close for an attack. He did make use of this sudden vacuum by way of spewing out more ash, which got pulled right in close to Jaune and he immediately ignited it again.

This time, Jaune moved back a foot to avoid being caught in the direct epicenter of the blast and then swung his blade, unleashing a wave of aura that cut right through the explosion itself and quickly closed the gap between them.

And this time, Hazel couldn't dodge for the vacuum effect was still ongoing though dying down. Thus, all he could do was defend.

With a yell of defiance, he raised his right hand and _grabbed_ the wave of aura just as it was about to reach him. Pain filled him as the wave began to practically disintegrated bits of his flesh and even his bones, but through a continuous stream of lightning and flames to coat his hand combined with his own brute strength, he too was able to do the impossible and outright _crush_ the wave of aura, turning it into nothingness.

What had just happened was a truly incredible feat – aura was the manifestation of one's soul, a type of energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed and aura, when used in the manner Jaune uses it in, followed this same basic principle… and yet, Hazel had succeeded in destroying it.

So lost in the battle, though, that the man himself didn't realize the feat he just pulled off. And if Jaune Arc himself was at all aware of what just happened and the implications, then he showed nothing as he charged right at him.

The young blond faked an upwards sword slash that Hazel saw through before then attacking for real with a fast straight punch to his gut that found its mark. Said punch slammed right into the wound from before – the wound that was now _almost healed_ – and staggered Hazel for a split second that the blond promptly took advantage of by slamming the butt of his sword hilt into the bottom of his jaw.

For an instant, Hazel saw nothing but stars, but from a lifetime of training and battle, his body responded on its own by sidestepping just as Jaune went in for a swing that would've otherwise cut his left leg right off at the thigh.

Regaining his senses, Hazel reached out and flicked the side of Jaune's left ear hard, an action that actually got a wince out of the blond in spite of him having shrugged off virtually everything else with nary a grunt. Just went to show how sensitive certain parts of the body would always be, no matter how tough one is.

This provided Hazel a brief window which he used to then grab the boy by that same ear and lift him right off his feet. Had the boy not struggled against this at all, Hazel would've ended up ripping his ear right off. Had Jaune struggled even slightly by trying to stand his ground or jump in the other direction, well, his ear would've definitely been torn off along with part of his face. But, in an admirable display of combat intelligence, the blond leapt in the direction Hazel tried to tug him in and so managed to avoid such a fate.

Hazel could almost admire the boy's instincts, but only barely. In any case, he was still essentially crushing the boy's ear between his fingers, rendering it bloodied. And just when Jaune started to launch a kick in mid-tug, Hazel simply spewed fire from that same hand, which then transferred over to Jaune's ear and then his entire head.

That definitely got a reaction out of the blond now, who cried out in shock and pain just long enough for Hazel to toss him aside like hot garbage. And in mid-toss, Hazel pivoted on his feet and delivered a massive punch, enhanced by lightning and fire alike, to Jaune's expose gut.

The resulting impact sounded louder than thunder and sent the teen flying through the air, smashing through several buildings before beginning to descend.

Hazel promptly leapt after him, covering such a distance in just the one leap and before Jaune had even hit the ground. And even as he slammed into the ground, the blond still managed to twist about and swing his sword seven times, unleashing waves of aura each time.

The first one took Hazel by surprise and cut deeply into his chest, drawing a lot of blood. However, he immediately generated flames from both hands and concentrated them to such a degree that they acted as pseudo-thrusters, allowing him to maneuver a bit in midair. Thanks to this, he was able to avoid the remaining waves of aura, but the second one had still been able to clip him in his face… and sadly for him, took out his right eye.

The pain was far from minute and Hazel genuinely screamed as a result. With his vision partially lost and his concentration broken, his flames went out and he went falling to the ground below, clipping a building in the process with his lower body.

The man had a less than graceful impact as he landed face-first on the asphalt, breaking it. Disoriented as this left him, Hazel still was of sound enough mind to hastily roll out of the way when Jaune, having landed as well, rushed over and swung at the ground, leaving a huge gash that was at least a dozen yards in length and just as deep.

The boy was in the process of swinging again, this time at an angle to account for Hazel's still moving form, but in yet another bout of sudden creativity, Hazel slammed a fist into the ground, producing a series of spider-web cracks that ended up overlapping the gash the boy had just created in the ground. And an instant later, the flames he'd produced with that very same fist ended up shooting right out of all the cracks, the gash included.

His young foe was left with no choice but to move back lest he be roasted yet again. This gave Hazel enough breathing room to full get up and resume his offensive in full.

Bellowing, he shot out fire again and turned his head left and right, making sure the flames spread out as far as they could possible go and then after a few seconds, he concentrated the flames as much as he could until it was as close to a beam of flames as it could be, thereby allowing him to extend the range of his attack at the expense of immediate spread.

He was able to lock onto the blond and blast him back, but the teen had raised his sword to guard against the fire beam and his weapon was holding up without issue despite the intensity of the heat, which was great enough to start melting the ground beneath them a little.

Hazel used this chance to approach, but he only got about a dozen steps before he had to stop – he could only exhale for so long before needing to take a breath again, after all.

He panted and coughed, his throat feeling exhausted from such strain – but he himself was far from tired.

No, if anything, he was feeling more energized than ever before… and he could only feel himself getting even stronger. The changes he'd felt upon injecting just moments ago were still far from over.

But unfortunately… the same could be of Jaune Arc.

Even now, though the aura pouring off him had lessened considerably, it was still there and even more intense than ever before. His tattered state aside, the boy no longer showed signs of injury thus exposing his bare upper body and part of his lower body for all the world to see. Hazel could see the slim but incredibly muscular physique Jaune possessed, the way each and every muscle strained and even writhed as he too was undergoing some sort of evolution still.

In terms of combat power, it would seem the two of them were now evenly matched, but there's no telling just how things will go as this battle continues.

It'll ultimately come down to which of them eventually starts to slow down first, Hazel supposed.

Then in that case, the man thought as he regained his breath, he'll just have to keep on swinging until one of them finally drops.

His muscles bulged as he tensed up, preparing to go yet another round. The same went for Jaune, who switched from a defensive stance to an offensive one.

In light of all that just happened, the two of them were now assessing their options, figuring out how to better counter the other's ever developing skills and abilities.

So lost in thought for the moment that neither one of them saw it coming until it was upon them – the appearance of another combatant.

Hazel's eyes widened and he genuinely gaped, he being the first to notice the new arrival, who leapt at Jaune from behind him.

Bloodied and with clothes in tatters and in general in a state that by all rights many would consider to be near the brink of death itself… Hazel honestly couldn't believe his eyes as one dying but indignant Neopolitan popped out of nowhere with an agonized but enraged expression on her face.

And the very first thing she did upon making her appearance was launch an attack right at an unassuming Jaune.

* * *

It'd taken a time and a half to do it, but Neo had done it. From where she'd been to essentially lie in agony at up to here, she'd managed to limp and jump and crawl her way here, here to where her most hated enemy was at.

It was worth noting that she was _not_ in a good condition at all – though Jaune Arc's attack had not struck her head on thanks to Hazel's timely intervention, she had suffered greatly from it. Even though she'd focused as much of her aura as she could into pure defense, the aura slash had still managed to completely tear through her aura as though it hadn't even been there at all, having reduced her aura level to a state so low that even a pebble toss from an unruly child would drain her of what little she had left.

But more than that, that attack had done her unbelievable harm despite missing its mark, having not just severed but even outright _obliterated_ the entirety of her left arm, a small portion of her torso and most of her left leg. Such injuries would've been considered potentially survivable had they been inflicted on a much larger and sturdier person, but on someone as petite as her? Even if she'd had enough aura to forcibly staunch her bleeding and keep her alive, it would not keep her among the living long enough to receive good enough care to ensure her survival.

But what little aura and strength of spirit she had left had been just enough to keep her going, help make the agonizing trip here. At least it hadn't been too hard to find the blond bastard, what with all the violent shaking and collapsing buildings and all that jazz.

And damn it all, if this is to be her last day on Remnant, then at the very least she was going to take the mother fucker down with her!

To her great fortune, the blond teen had been so wrapped up in the fight against Hazel – seriously, these two were _monsters_ , just how the hell could anyone be so strong?! – that she'd been able to use some of her fleeting strength to launch herself off the top of toppled and partly destroyed dumpster and right towards Jaune Arc's back.

In her remaining hand she held a simple knife, having lost her replacement weapon due to that damned attack as well. But she focused the remainder of her aura into the knife to strengthen it and she actually prayed it'd be enough to pierce the back of that bastard's neck.

This was it – her final moment!

Time felt like it slowed to a crawl as the distance between her knife and his neck shortened with every passing microsecond. Her desperate hope turned to pure vindictive elation in this process and led to her letting out a silent bark of laughter-.

-Only for her elation to be dashed with swift and brutal efficiency.

It happened so fast that her ailing senses simply couldn't process it until it was already too late. One instant, Jaune Arc had been standing perfectly still, back exposed to her… and in the next instant, he'd leaned to the side and twisted, just enough for him to maneuver his sword.

Her hand was severed and it along with the knife it still tightly held went flying past the blond as did she… except…

…Ha, h-how weird, she thought numbly as she harmlessly sailed past her hated foe.

…Just why was her body… all the way over there…?

…

…

* * *

Jaune hadn't heard the incoming attack until the last possible instant, at which point he'd been all too quick to respond and relief his attacker of her hand and head.

It was only with the mildest case of surprise that he watched head and body separate before his own eyes and he recognized the person who'd been so close to stabbing him all the way through the throat, not that such a thing would've done much good in the first place.

That girl, the one who'd been Roman Torchwick's accomplice. Judging by the state of her body, his aura slash at that time had not fully missed its target it would seem.

…

…He… didn't quite know what to feel. On the one hand, this woman had very much been an unrepentant criminal, much like how Torchwick had been and judging by how things were lining up, it would seem she'd thrown her lot in with this man before him and whoever else he was working with. Had they been successful, there would be no telling just what kind of damage they could cause.

Not that they weren't causing enough as it is. Sparing a brief glance towards the sky, he found it Grimm-free for the most part. Indeed, even the constant roaring of the Grimm themselves from where they were at by the walls seemed to be much lower in volume now, a sign of their diminishing numbers.

But city hall still sounded like a miniature warzone even from this distance… just what was going on there right now?

No, but more than that…

Jaune couldn't tear his eyes away from the fallen body of the fallen criminal.

"What you see before you," his foe spoke suddenly, grabbing his attention. The sheer level of distortion to his voice failed to mask his surprising solemnness. "Is but one example of the chaos your slavery will bring to you. No matter how many 'evils' you strike down, another will always rise to take the last one's place… and more often that not, it will be in direct response to what you've done. Like the girl for example – because you killed Torchwick, her most cherished person, she'd come to hate you immensely for it… and now look at how things have turned out. She was willing to join my allies and I all for the express purpose of revenge against you. And you… you had no choice but to respond."

The man took one large step forward, though not in a combative manner. "…And though it's probably yet to happen, it'll only be a matter of time until the people you save turn on you, try to twist you and use you… and because you're nothing but a slave, you'll only ever to continue to walk down this path without any choice of your own being made about it." The man grimaced and looked at him in loathing. "Really now… what a pathetic being you are. Your very existence is unbearable."

Jaune glared right back at him in silence but stopped after a few seconds to once again glance at the fallen body. He closed his eyes for a split second and lowered his head, almost as if in mourning… except that was not something he could actually feel. Not for 'evil.'

A second later, he raised his head and opened his eyes. He took several steps forward, past the body of the now dead criminal. He spared not another glance, not even for even the smallest possible fraction of a second.

"I won't lie," he started. "Not to anyone, much less myself. You're right – I'm a slave. A lot of the things I've done over the years, I did because I had no choice in the matter. My mind isn't quite my own anymore, it feels like. Same thing goes for my body… but even then, it's not as if I'm not aware of what's going on with me. And you know what? The part of me that's still me… if it were possible for that part to disconnect and review everything that's happened over all these years… I don't think that part of me would disagree all that much. Now don't get me wrong either; a lot of the things I've seen and done, just about anyone else would've been scarred by it all in some form or another. But even back before I was sent spiraling down this path, I'd known that doing good would never be easy."

Jaune raised his sword and pointed it directly at the man. Aura began to once more pour off his form, but in a much more controlled state than before. Every fiber of his being practically ached to continue.

"The world isn't just black and white. I've long since stopped being naïve enough to believe otherwise. Sometimes, hard choices must be made in the name of the greater good and no matter how much experience I gain, I know that I'm not always going to make the right move. I'll stumble. I'll fail, just like everyone else does at times… But!" Jaune's blue eyes glowed a magnificent and fiery gold. "No matter what, I'll persevere! Not simply because I'm compelled to, but also because I choose to!"

Yes, that was exactly it, he realized in this moment. As much as he'd unconsciously wished to be free of this mental pollution of his, it wasn't as if he'd hated such a thing. Sure, he wished to be more like everyone else – enjoy the company of friends and family, laugh and cry with others, fall in love, maybe even have a family one day too, things he'd already begun to do just a tad bit thanks to the help of his friends – but one thing that's never changed about him was that he'd always wanted to be a hero, to fight the bad guys and save others. His semblance may be forcing him to do just that at the expense of much else, but in the end it was nothing more than just an extreme amplification of what'd already been there all along!

…!

Something… something within him was beginning to change. But it was different from all the other changes he's been undergoing for quite some time now. His muscles didn't bristle in response to the change nor did his aura suddenly surge or anything like that. This change was far more intimate in nature, something that only he himself would ever be aware of…

…Except, it also seemed like the man himself seemed to sense this shift as well, for his previously enraged expression now gave way to one of muted shock.

"…Alright then. So be it," the man said quietly as lightning and flames began to dance all along his bare arms. "…No matter what conclusions either of us come to here, it doesn't change the fact that you still need to die."

"Nor does it change the fact," Jaune began to retort. "That you and whoever else you're working with – like this Salem you mentioned – need to be stopped. And I fully intend to do just that."

With nothing else needing to be said, the two assumed combative stances and launched themselves at each other, fully intending on ending this battle…

…Only for yet another interruption to occur.

And unlike the first one, which had attempt to sneak up behind him, this one had come from somewhere just a bit more unlikely-.

-Directly above them.

* * *

 **Alright, so what do you guys think? Worth the wait? Heh, I hope so, for I've been itching to write the next battle between Hazel and Jaune here… and I'd like to think I did a pretty good job at upping the scale in all sorts of ways.**

 **Specifically in ways that I'm really disappointed weren't done in the show.**

 **To elaborate on that, well, firstly we all know just how bad volume 5 of RWBY was in general, even by the rather flexible standards a lot of fans have regarding the series. And to me, one of the biggest screw-ups about volume 5 had been how they'd handled Hazel. I don't simply mean his character – I believe I've already made my opinion on that known nearly a dozen chapters ago when I first introduced him in the fic – but rather his skillset and overall fighting style.**

 **When we saw him fight in the climax of volume 5 – yes, I know I use that word liberally here – all we saw of him fighting was just him literally tossing Nora and Ren aside at first in a lazy fashion and smack aside Qrow in an equally lazy way. It hadn't been until he found out Oscar was Ozpin's next body that he really went nuts and injected himself with Dust… only to end up fighting like any other typical brute in any other work of fiction and launch balls of fires or lightning in the most generic way possible. Just about the only creative thing he did with these powers was grab Nora by the head and try frying her and again I use the word 'creative' here _very_ liberally. He didn't try to do anything special at all with the powers granted to him by the Dust crystals. Despite pretty much obtaining a watered-down power set of a Maiden i.e. elemental manipulation, he didn't do anything near the scale of what Cinder and Raven demonstrated.**

 **Granted, the dude had gone berserk and berserkers usually don't think things through, much less fight in a rational manner, but it goes without saying how poor an excuse that is since there's plenty of other such berserkers in other fictional works that really go nuts with whatever abilities they possess.**

 **Thus my attempts in this chapter to start correcting that. I mean, considering the level of skill characters like Weiss have in manipulating Dust for a variety of effects, I'm genuinely amazed someone like Hazel whose true fighting style revolves around Dust usage too doesn't have equally good control over the Dust powers he gains.**

 **Now, admittedly, generating ash thanks to the fire Dust crystal might be a tad much since nothing similar was done in canon as far as I can recall, but this is due to the changes he's undergoing in this chapter, changes that will be explained in due time as will all other things, of course.**

 **In any case, TLDR I hope you guys like the way I'm writing Hazel's character and abilities. Oh, and I'd planned for Neo to die at this point of the story quite a bit in advance, so hope this is also something you guys can understand given the circumstances.**

 **Whelp, with that off my chest, time to bring this to a close for good now.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	35. Chapter 35

Hey there guys! Been a while and I'm sorry for that – came down with the stomach flu or something like and it kept me down and out for a few solid days. Then when it seemed like it was going away and my recovery began, well, I still wasn't really in much of a position to do anything much less even write due to how exhausted it left me, to say nothing of how uncertain I'd felt doing anything lest the symptoms somehow return in full. Don't know if the stomach flu or whatever bacteria that causes something similar is going around, but if so, be careful! All things considered in hindsight, I got off semi-lightly since all I really experienced was just a really bad upset stomach and heartburn, as opposed to, well, everything else the stomach flu would normally entail.

Also, Doom Eternal came out just a few days ago too and so I've been placing some of my returning energy into playing, heh. Honestly, I'm decent when it comes to FPS games and usually don't have much interest in them at all, but Doom is just one of those games where I can really go nuts and truly enjoy what I'm playing. And even on normal mode, aptly called Hurt Me Plenty, it's showing me the ropes!

Maybe one day I'll do a Doom fic or something, but I realize I've come to say that to myself fairly often about all sorts of different works of fiction, ha ha.

Well, on a more serious note, do stay safe out there, guys. With everyone losing their shit over the current pandemic, it's only a matter of time until things really escalate past the point of no return for some people. I know it's a serious thing and all, but still, no need to let it dominate everything in our lives.

Now then, seriousness over. Onto the chapter!

Chapter 35

It'd been only five minutes since chaos had broken out at city hall since some of James' forces had taken notice of it and began to mobilize. During that time, the Atlas general had made sure to inform him, Ozpin, of this and the headmaster of Beacon had started to send out students and faculty to provide much needed assistance, sending out one bullhead after another into the city.

Alas, by then, it'd already been too late – by the time the first teams had even touched down in Vale, the chaos had spread all across the area, spanning entire miles. Additionally, the cameras and comms within this area had gone completely dark, making it unbelievably difficult for any of the police and huntsmen to properly coordinate. Combined with James' force having to travel out towards Vale's walls to keep the Grimm surging towards this new source of negativity at bay, it was a truly bad situation.

However, as Ozpin now discovered, bad situations always had a habit of getting worse.

His eyes narrowed as his scroll beeped a little tune, a tune he'd set to function as an alarm whenever someone tried to take the elevator _down_ rather than up from the ground floor.

Amber.

Snatching his cane from where'd he placed it nearby, the headmaster took his leave though not before fiddling with his scroll to shut down the entire building. However, his unknown foe proved their threat level when the power was restored not even seconds afterwards.

To say the man was shocked would be an understatement, but entire lifetimes of experience have long since made it possible for him to work under pressure and no matter what sort of surprise may come his way.

In any case, with the sole elevator traveling downwards and already about to reach Amber's floor – he could monitor its descent from his scroll, but whoever was in there had destroyed the camera inside – he had no normal way of going down there.

Thus, there was only one option.

Forcing the elevator doors open after instantly traversing the short hallway outside his office, Ozpin leapt down and activated his current body's semblance, backed up just slightly by what little magical power he still had after all these centuries.

His descent picked up rapidly in speed as he ran _downwards_ … quite possibly, right into a hell of his own making.

Hardly the first time he's done such a thing, really. But he prayed dearly that this hell wouldn't be so literal.

* * *

It was with an ever-growing sense of glee that Cinder practically forced open the elevator doors of her own accord, using the half of the Maiden power she possessed to blow them almost right off the hinges.

As she did so, she quickly took it all in and almost huffed.

Really now, a massive chamber such as this… all for the dying Fall Maiden? How very needless, but she supposed Ozpin's flair for dramatics was to explain this. Salem had stated as much on an occasion or two.

No matter.

She, Mercury, and Emerald swiftly exited the ruined elevator and spread out. They walked with a brisk pace, but not too brisk. Just because they were so close to her goal didn't mean she should suddenly become so hasty nor secured in her victory. She'd learned as much from the first time, when Qrow Branwen had robbed her of her ascension to power, when Amber had quite literally been at her mercy.

The lack of obvious security measures really only heightened her alertness rather than put her at ease but as a minute and then two went by, the young woman allowed herself to relax a bit.

The chamber proved to not only be extremely large, but actually just one of several it seemed, as they came upon a large set of doors that led into another chamber. It was really quite irritating, but considering the placement of Ozpin's tower above and the direction this area seemed to be built in, Cinder confidently estimated that the ancient and ever weakening wizard was abiding by the rule of three, meaning the Fall Maiden should be in the chamber just past this second one.

"Man, talk about drab," Mercury suddenly said, the man's cockiness reaching a peak after weeks of uncertainty and worry. "I mean, seriously, this is like something right out of a game I just played. Can Ozpin really be any more typical?"

Cinder could practically hear Emerald roll her eyes, the teal-haired girl huffing even with her weapons drawn. "Not all fantasy games are based on real life, Merc. Even an idiot like you should know that much." She sounded as admonishing as always, but there was no denying the grin the young woman had too.

Cinder smirked, allowing this. After all, she was in a good damn mood too.

Finally, after all her efforts and setbacks, victory was at ha-!

A sound interrupted her thought, a sound that came from where they'd just come from – the elevator.

All manner of joy left her and her subordinates and the three of them immediately turned and spread out, their years of training and experience making their bodies move on instinct rather than on thought.

Unfortunately, it proved to be not enough.

For in the time it took them to even register the sound in the first place and turn around – a time that could be measured in a few brief milliseconds at most – whatever, no, whoever, was already upon them.

Mercury, their vanguard due to his particular skills, was the first to be struck and not just once at that either, a short series of strikes hitting him in vitals spots before flinging him aside.

It was only thanks to the delay this provided the attacker – not much of a delay at all, really – that Cinder, who was more or less right behind Mercury, was able to draw her weapon, Midnight, in its dual sword forms.

She did so just in the nick of time and she proved her worth as one of Salem's inner circle by successfully warding off the three blows that would've otherwise struck her right in the throat, heart, and liver.

Nonetheless the blows still proved to be incredibly strong and would've forced her right off her feet had she not adjusted her balance at the last possible instant.

The result was her ending up in a deadlock with her attacker.

She glared at him, her irises glowing in response to her mounting anger and Maiden power firing up.

"Ozpin," she growled out.

The headmaster merely glared at her dispassionately before breaking the deadlock and going on the attack again.

And just like that, the battle for the Fall Maiden had begun.

* * *

It was with a growing sense of numbing shock and horror that Blake moved about.

Mere minutes ago, or so it felt like to her currently addled mind, things had been off to a very tense but still bearable start – the council had wasted no time introducing themselves, having her and her friends and parents state their names for public record and then launch into their long series of questions, all of which had essentially been to confirm to just how accurate the file released to the press was on her past transgressions.

It'd been with a solemn voice that Blake had confirmed everything in the file to be pretty much spot on, which had then launched the next series of questions, though not before some of the council members had made several angry and disbelieving remarks.

The next series of questions had ultimately been about her intentions going forth and what, if any, proof she could offer them to show that she truly wasn't a member of the White Fang anymore.

It'd been during this time that her parents had politely stepped up to give their own two lien on the matter, both as parents and as former members of the _original_ White Fang.

Alas, as greatly appreciated as it'd been, Blake knew that this was only going to end one way – with her being punished and rightfully so at that.

She recalled for a brief moment when she'd spoken with Jaune after the docks incident. She remembered what he'd said. So long as she truly wished to repent and made strides in doing so, then there should never be an issue in giving her and others like her a second chance. Unfortunately, the council and most people in general didn't share such an understanding point of view. Even if they did, laws were laws for a reason.

No matter how the council's opinion of her may change, it wouldn't change the fact that she was going away to prison for some stretch of time.

However, it'd been during a brief back-and-forth talk between her parents and some members of the council that things had all gone so horrifyingly wrong.

One instant, they'd been talking quite passionately on the matter at hand, then the next instant, sounds of gunfire, clashing, screaming and explosions had started going off outside.

Naturally, they'd all been ordered to remain here while some of the council's security personnel and even one of her parents' own guard went to see what the issue was – and that had been another explosion had rocked city hall from behind it and the sounds of slaughter and screaming had made themselves known again and much closer this time.

Then the walls between this chamber and the surrounding hallways had been destroyed… and in poured White Fang.

There'd been no cries of 'die humans!' or anything else along those lines. Instead, some of the White Fang members that poured in just immediately took aim at her and fired.

It'd been on instinct that she'd dodged, even kicking over a nearby bench to provide some cover seeing as she was currently weaponless.

But this had only been the start of the chaos, for only more White Fang had poured in… along with… _him_.

And that had been things had truly gone to shit… and how things have been for the past several minutes now.

"Adam, please stop!" she cried out as she did her best to dodge her former friend's blade.

"I'm sorry, Blake," he said in a stricken but resolved voice. "But no one can outrun their past, not even you."

"Back off, you bastard!" Yang cried out as she threw herself into the fray, her semblance active as she started to wildly throw a barrage of punches.

Adam pulled back just enough to avoid the initial strike and began to use his sword to masterfully swat aside the rest of Yang's blows, though not easily as the blonde brawler's semblance allowed her to hit a hell of a lot harder than normal. Adam was actually left with no choice but to back off a bit.

However, he was hardly the only combatant here.

All around her, just about everyone was fighting. Her friends, her father, the remaining security personnel that both the council and her parents had here, the large group Adam had assembled for this obvious hit on her. The only noncombatants here were her mother and the council members, all of whom were being defended by either her father or the other huntsmen here.

The whole room was getting destroyed all around them, a result of stray Dust bullets and attacks unleashed by the personal weapons her friends and the other huntsmen possessed.

By all rights, this wouldn't and shouldn't be much of a fight under more conventional conditions – while the people that came with Adam were certainly experienced, at best they could seriously trouble her and her friends. As for doing much of anything against fully fledged huntsmen, however? They shouldn't be able to do anything at all. People like her and especially Adam, they'd been considered part of the White Fang's best for a reason – power and skill of their level was not so easy to come by.

However, the White Fang had been the ones to set this stage. They held the advantage due to the surrounding area and the fact that she, her friends, and the other huntsmen here had to primarily concern themselves with protecting the council and other non-combatants. The White Fang had no such issues.

But more than that…

"Ah!" Yang cried out as Adam suddenly sheathed his blade, only to shoot it out, the hilt slamming into the blonde brawler's chest with unbelievable speed.

"Yang!" Blake's concern for her partner overwrote all other instincts she currently had and she leapt into action, knocking Yang aside just before Adam could use the strength of the punches he'd deflected to activate his own semblance.

She'd succeeded in doing so, but only barely, having to use her semblance at the last possible second to take what would've otherwise been a dangerous hit.

Even then, the sheer power of the aura Adam unleashed with his upwards swing was immense, cutting through an entire section of the room and well through numerous other rooms past these walls. The mere air pressure generated was enough to send her and Yang tumbling roughly along the ground.

But it also got the attention of the other huntsmen, at least those who've just knocked out some of the White Fang members that had been unable to maintain a proper distance between them.

Several of these huntsmen prepared to move, but Adam noticed them and promptly swung his blade again, channeling his own aura into it to unleash another aura wave. As it was his own aura, he couldn't afford to use up too much and sure enough, compared to his previous attack just now, it was far less powerful.

However, as it was aimed in the general direction of the council members who'd been forced to stay in place for the past several minutes lest they be hit, well, there was only so much that could be done.

"No!" Blake heard her father cry out. "This stops now!"

"D-Dad?!" She could only cry out as she watched her father leap in front of the attack and take it head on. It struck him hard and blew him back, causing him to crash into the wall just above the council, which got some screams of terror out of them.

"Sir!" some of her parents' guards cried out in horror before that horror turned to rage. "You-!"

Some of them broke off from the current battles they were in and tried to make their way towards Adam…

…But Blake beat them to the punch.

She'd known for a long time now of the dark path the White Fang had been going down, Adam especially. Rather than try to do something about this, she'd ran instead, having feared failure. And so, she'd left her former friend and mentor to his doomed future.

It was something she'd regretted doing ever since.

But now? After seeing her father struck like that?

Whatever regrets she'd held vanished for the moment and she threw herself at Adam without even an ounce of hesitation. She didn't know if Adam cared for what had just happened, not that she in turn would've cared either way – her father had just been hurt. Like hell she was just going to let that go.

Of course, enraged as she was, it wasn't as if she suddenly got a power boost or something – this wasn't like the stories she sometimes read. Thus, when she charged at Adam, intent on tackling him, the man had swiftly pivoted and cut right at her. It was only thanks to a last minute save from her semblance that allowed her to avoid being hit.

And it was then thanks to the sudden appearance of a familiar white glyph appearing below her new position, courtesy of Weiss, that Blake then gained enough speed to clear what little distance there was between them.

And when she tackled Adam, she tackled him _hard_. The man let out a surprised 'oomph' that was all too satisfying to her ears. And as he stumbled, naturally off-balance, she was quick to suddenly let go of him and practically leap up, smashing the top of her head into his jaw.

Even with aura, it hurt quite a bit, but Blake easily powered through the pain to wrap her legs around his lower half and use her momentum to flip him.

Alas, this was about the best she could do as she currently is – she may have caught him off guard with some assistance from Weiss, but Adam was one of the White Fang's best for a reason. Even with assistance from her whole team, taking him down would be far from easy, even with how unpredictable battle could be.

Sure enough, as soon as she'd flipped him, Adam recovered immediately, rolling so that he was now in a crouch and promptly opened fire, forcing everyone around him to move back, her included. One of the huntsmen, however, apparently had a semblance that allowed him to soldier through the brief hail of bullets and go in for an attack, but Adam was able to dodge in time and deliver a counterattack.

The huntsman was able to deftly maneuver his weapon, a short but wide type of machete, in time to block his swing and launch his own counter, at which point a brief scuffle broke out between him and Adam, the two matching one another blow for blow, steel clashing against steel and at such speeds that no one else could immediately get close without risking being struck in the immediate crossfire.

And while that was happening…

"Look out!" Blake yelled and pointed towards the spot where the council members were all huddled up at. There, one lanky White Fang member that had clearly tried to sneak around through the chaos was within jumping range of her targets. Now that Blake had called her out though, the female White Fang member let out a battle cry and flung her weapon, a large knife, right at one of the councilmen, who could only freeze up in fright.

But thankfully, Blake's cry had gotten the attention of Ruby, who'd swiftly maneuvered her weapon into its more compact gun form and shot the knife down in just one go while another huntress nearby moved far faster than anyone else in the room could to quickly knock out the attacker before she could try anything else.

Two cries could then be heard along with a guttural growl and Blake turned to see her father heft up two of the White Fang and fling them across the room. Yang, who'd gotten back up now, saw this and opted to get some payback of a sort for she fired Ember Celica in a way to blast herself upwards, at which point she clotheslined both White Fang members as hard as she could.

Seeing this, Blake made a brief run towards where her mom was, now that the chaos seemed to steadily be changing in their favor.

"Mom, are you okay?" the B of RWBY asked immediately as she knelt down near the woman.

Her mother, ever so resilient a person, merely smiled in response, albeit somewhat worriedly. "It's just another loud and rambunctious day to me, sweetie."

Blake's mouth twitched upwards for a split second, but she caught herself and grabbed her mom firmly. "Come on; I'll get you out of here and then the councilmen. We do that, then everyone else here could finally give it their all."

Her mother nodded and prepared to move – though not before the entire building shook with tremendous force. It was as though a few bombs just suddenly went off close by. The sight of smoke coming from down the hallways a second later only confirmed it.

Dear lord, Blake wondered, just how many troops did Adam bring?!

The short series of explosions had caught them all off guard, thrown off their balance. This naturally included Adam too, but perhaps because he'd been expecting something like this, he'd ended up being the first out of them all to recover.

Using this to his advantage, Blake could only stagger momentarily as she watched him land a hit on the huntsman he'd been facing, knocking the man back several yards. Then Adam opened fired again with his gun to keep everyone else still off balance while his sword began to quickly glow again.

"..!" Blake made a sound and immediately grabbed her mother before leaping back as far as she could. The others, sensing danger, did the same.

They did this not a second too soon for Adam stabbed his blade directly into the floor and unleashed his semblance, generating an explosion of dark red aura that practically made the whole room collapse in on itself.

Some of the huntsmen immediately rushed back in to protect the council members, cutting up the huge podium they'd been at before lest it be blown right back into the council and crush them. Meanwhile, debris fell from above and Blake spotted her father rush forth to protect some of the now downed White Fang from being crushed to death. Even if they'd meant him and the others harm, he still showcased his good heart.

And nearby, Weiss went a step further by creating the largest black glyph Blake had ever seen her make, using its gravitational pull to halt the rest of the falling rubble.

"H-Hurry!" the W of RWBY shouted. "I can only hold this for so long!"

Blake didn't have to be told twice nor did anyone else really. Rushing out of the room, she passed her mother over to one of the remaining guards that had accompanied her parents. "Watch her for a minute!" she said before leaping back into the fray.

As she'd evacuated her mom from the immediate danger zone, she saw Ruby and some of the huntsmen mop up the rest of the White Fang, who'd also been affected by Adam's sudden attack.

Alas, they couldn't get all of them – there were still a few stragglers here and there. And Adam, of course, still stood standing.

And he was glaring right at her as she dove through the lessening madness.

Blake tried not to pay him too much mind, especially since the other huntsmen were now closing in on him. Instead, she focused on the councilmen, who were now being swiftly pulled out of the collapsing room and into the relative safety of the nearby hallway.

But not quickly enough, Blake noted. There were two council members in particular that have yet to be grabbed and moved out of there and she could spot Adam now training his eyes on them in spite of the incoming opposition around him.

Sure enough, her former friend opened fire in the council members' direction before she could fully close the distance.

"No!" she cried. In a complete spur of the moment, she activated her semblance several times in a row, the creation of each super temporary clone pushing her forward just a bit faster each time.

It ended up being a supremely close call that resulted in her taking a few rounds head on, lowering her aura even more, but she was able to do it – she was able to all but tackle the council members out of harm's way.

Out into the hallway they flew and the three of them hit the floor rather hard, but Blake was able to roll to a swift stop and look back into the room –.

-Right into Adam's hidden eyes.

* * *

"Blake…" Adam murmured as he saw her do the unthinkable – she actually went out of her way to save two of Vale's wretched council. He'd known she'd changed, she wouldn't have left them otherwise… but to see something like that when before she'd been of the same exact opinion he and the others were of every kingdom's council… it was enough to boggle.

Thus, all he could do was just stare at her even when everyone around began to direct their attention towards him now. Even when the same damned human huntsman from earlier tried to attack him, Adam merely raised his sword on reflex, his eyes not leaving Blake's for even a second.

Going into this, he'd been resolved to do what must be done, but to know now for certain Blake's new allegiance was enough to render his heart truly numb for a minute.

To think his longtime friend and protégé would turn out like this… the shame wounded him more than any strike could.

However, the numbness lasted only a second, after which he knew only rage.

Very well then. If Blake would betray their cause like this, then it was clear she and all her new 'friends' must truly die. That Schnee girl especially.

And on that note…

Letting the next strike of the huntsman knock him off his feet, Adam flew through the air as one big target. Sure enough, just about everyone who could opened fire upon him.

But he was ready for it. Certainly, he couldn't deflect every shot, not when they were coming at him from so many different angles, but he didn't need to do so – instead, he let them hit him as he absorbed the force behind each one.

With how poorly the situation was going for his forces within the room right now, he must settle for turning his enemies' strength against them. He couldn't afford to just be using up his aura left and right anyways.

He landed in a crouch whereupon he was able to deflect the shots with greater ease. It was also with greater ease that he could see everyone begin to fallback as the rubble the Schnee was keeping at bay began their descent ever so slowly. One quick glance to that damned girl showed that this was deliberate on her part too.

She intended to bury him and his few remaining men under the rubble. Like dogs, huh? He figured as much from a member of the Schnee family.

But that would not be the case.

"Hey, asshole! Try blocking this!"

He looked forward just in time to see that dumb blonde girl from before leap at him with great speed, her hair glowing a nearly blinding goal. Her eyes, red with rage, bore into his own.

He was unimpressed… but also just marginally thankful towards her.

He raised his blade and blocked the incoming punch. He let out a heavy grunt as its power was much greater than anything else tossed his way in quite a while, but he stood his ground as he absorbed the power behind it.

He could literally feel the red highlights in his clothes and even his hair practically glow now too, a sign that this was about as much power as he could handle with his semblance.

Perfect.

Smiling viciously, he promptly batted the girl back and took a stance. "Run," he told his remaining forces, not that he really expected them to vacate the blast zone in time. It was truly saddening that they may very well perish from his own move, but they'd all gone into this knowing death was a likelihood.

"Everyone, get back, quickly!" Blake cried out, recognizing his stance all too well. The panic in her normally taciturn voice was palpable. "He's going to-!"

Indeed, he was. And unfortunately for her, her warning came just a split second too late.

He swung his blade, unleashing the power contained within it now.

And in a flash of crimson red, he proceeded to level the entirety of city hall.

* * *

Outside city hall, the battle waged fiercely.

With how chaotic things were, casualties had naturally taken place, a thought that made Pyrrha shudder no matter how much she tried to keep her mind focused on doing what she could. Even so, it was hard to not look around and see just how many people the White Fang had mowed down before the police and huntsmen could truly combat them.

On that particular note, not even the police and huntsmen had gone unscathed so far with even a few casualties of their own out there in the streets, a result of the upper hand the White Fang had going into this situation on top two other important factors.

First and foremost, all the people running around for cover. With all the fighting going on, it was so damned hard for the massive crowds to get out of the crossfire in a timely fashion and with all the explosions going off everywhere, the number of directions they could semi-safely go in were getting fewer with every passing minute. Police mainly tried to take care of the crowd control while leaving the main combat to the huntsmen, but even then, it was tough going since the White Fang would target the civilians and the huntsmen couldn't afford to let that happen.

Secondly, the White Fang had the advantage of a bullhead flying overhead, one that was heavily armed to boot too, shown off as it fired all along the nearby streets and dropping bombs around city hall.

It was just absolute chaos, Pyrrha could only think numbly even as she swung her blade hard enough to instantly knock out a White Fang member that she'd managed to get the drop on.

Pulling her blade back, she looked at it for an instant… and saw some blade, a sight that made her flinch terribly. She was well aware that sooner or later it would've come to this; it was only inevitable that the path of being a huntress would be bloodied. Even so, going through something like this now of all times was not something she'd been expecting.

In any case, not even she, the so-called Invincible Girl by her many fans, had gone through all this unscathed so far – she showed some dirt and smears on her normally clean armor, some small cuts on her body and clothes that hadn't been there before.

In terms of pure skill, none of these White Fang members would even match up to a first-year student, much less fully-fledged huntsmen, but their numbers combined with their viciousness and weaponry more than made up for the skill gap. Even with her semblance to even the odds by flat out tugging guns out of their hands or sending them flying by affecting any magnetized parts of their clothing, there were only so many things she could focus on at any given time.

Thankfully, she'd done her part in keeping the White Fang from advancing on city hall, having worked alongside the other huntresses here to keep them at bay. Again, her semblance had played a large part in that, but it'd been her own ever-increasing skills that had done most of the work. All that time she'd spent these past weeks and months training alongside Jaune and defending Vale's walls had helped to hone her reflexes and control over her semblance that much more. Had something like this happened at the beginning of the school year, when she'd silently and in hindsight arrogantly thought she'd end up plateauing due to lack of competition, she'd have likely died by now or at the very least suffer severe injuries.

But on that note…

"Just where are you, Jaune?!" she whispered as she switched her weapon to its gun form and started to take careful aim at any White Fang members currently in battle with the police and huntsmen. Off in the near distance, she could see Nora and Ren tag-teaming some White Fang members too.

It's been too long since Jaune had gone out to investigate whatever had most definitely gotten his attention. That he's yet to return could only mean one thing – whatever had grabbed his attention was still occupying him. And considering just how unbelievably powerful her friend and leader is, that said something truly scary about all this. The constant shaking that seemed to be originating from somewhere well outside this area wasn't helping to ease her worries for him either.

She started shooting, clipping White Fang members in their arms or the back of their knees. Thanks to their aura and the protection provided by their armor, her shots didn't do much damage, but it did distract and hurt them, which quickly let whomever they were trying to kill get away while those that were actively fighting back now had the upper hand-.

-But only for a few precious seconds.

"Incoming!" someone cried and immediately thereafter, the bullhead above did a quick pass-by, dropping even more bombs.

Pyrrha, noting their closeness, tried reaching out with her semblance to grab the bombs before they could reach the ground, but only succeeded in grabbing a few while the rest hit their marks. Rage growing within her at how things were going, she tried flinging the bombs she could halt towards the bullhead, but it was already out of reach and so the bombs exploded harmlessly in the air.

One would think with all the bullheads Beacon was sending their way to aid them that this single bullhead would prove no match. Alas, none of the bullheads Beacon had at its disposal were equipped with any weapons, meaning their only means of combat would be whatever long-range weapons their passengers could fire. As for all the Atlas ships here in Vale, they were all currently occupied with the small legions of Grimm that threatened to break through Vale's walls.

Just really now, could this possibly get any worse, Pyrrha thought tiredly.

And as if to spite her for her thoughtless comment, reality decided to be extra cruel.

For the next thing she and everyone else knew, a horrible and nearly deafening sound went off right before she and the other huntresses got blown forward.

And the last thing she saw before landing in the thick of the battle was city hall falling.

* * *

Jaune grunted as he broke free from the massive pile of debris. Just what in the world had hit him and his foe?

He found out a moment later as he got up and looked around, his eyes going wide in shock.

An Atlas airship.

Unbelievable, he thought. It would seem that it'd been swarmed by enough avian Grimm to make it explode and crash, with him and the unknown man being at the epicenter of the fiery crash.

Looking up, he could spot plenty of ships still about… along with just a handful of avian Grimm – Nevermores and Griffons – flying around too. Looks like the line Atlas had put up wasn't holding as well as one would initially think.

Still, he thought, things didn't look _too_ bad. This ship appeared to be one of the much smaller ones, meant more for maybe a team of three or four to operate rather than the much larger ones that required an entire crew just to run. That meant the bigger ships should be safe for now despite all the Grimm. Presumably, once the Grimm attacking the walls are thinned out, the avian ones that had flown into Vale could and would be easily dealt with.

That said, that could be a while. That meant he can't just afford to keep going at this either – he had to make sure the man was down for the count and then go back to city hall. Once the chaos there was dealt with, the immediate negativity should die down enough to then affect the Grimm numbers past the walls. A domino effect.

Kicking himself free for good of the rubble, Jaune immediately scanned the area. Sadly, he could spot the people that had piloted the craft… what remained of them, that is.

He prayed their deaths had been quick, if nothing else.

But then, he got back to looking. Just where was that ma-?

A hand shot out from directly beneath him and gave a mighty tug, dragging him back into the massive pile of rubble.

He hardly even had a chance to react before a flame and lightning coated fist slammed into his chest, blasting him upwards with unbelievable force.

Painful as it was though, he was quick to flip around in midair and land on his feet before promptly unleashing a wave of aura that destroyed the rubble in an instant and exposing the man's semi-injured form as he came charging right at him.

The man roared, his voice ever more distorted, before suddenly performing a small leap that ended with him slamming the ground with a hammer blow. As his fists struck the street, fire and lightning poured forth from the numerous cracks that formed that would've instantly incinerated nearly anyone else.

As for Jaune, he merely dashed on through and tried to stab the man right through the face, but he twisted at the last possible instant and swatted the blade aside, making Jaune stumble as he maintained his grip on his weapon. Then the man lashed out with a powerful hook that nearly struck him in his side but Jaune regained his balance, pivoted and deflected the blow.

Even then, the sheer force of the attack caused them both to go skidding back several meters.

The two of them started to pant hard now, the effects of their intense battle finally catching up to them. Strangely, though, Jaune wasn't actually tired. Again, it instead felt as though he was becoming increasingly energized, stronger.

And he could tell the same was happening to the man as well.

A particularly loud explosion suddenly snapped Jaune out of his thoughts and he and the man suddenly turned in unison towards the direction it came from.

City hall, Jaune realized worriedly.

"…It looks like that too is now coming to an end," the man commented. "Rejoice, boy; it would seem that within the next several minutes, the chaos will begin to subside."

At that, Jaune gave the man his attention again. "So, you really knew about this attack," Jaune simply said in response to the man's response.

A part of him, the part that analyzed everything around him all the time no matter what he was doing, had figured as much. This attack on him by this man and the now deceased woman had been too perfect. There was no way they would've been able to time their attack on him this perfectly unless they had known what the White Fang was not only up to but when they'd launch their strike too. Not even coincidence could possibly explain this way.

"Indeed," the man easily admitted as he glanced towards city hall. "…What a bunch of fools, the White Fang. They seem to believe such persecution and suffering has only ever been inflicted upon them and no others. A self-centered and delusional lot, all of them… but thanks to their blind and futile crusade, they're certainly useful when utilized right."

Jaune wouldn't dare to even remotely agree with the man on the White Fang, but not even he could change the fact that the terrorists' ultimate goal is a tragically hopeless one. But the White Fang were the topic he wished to discuss.

"There's no way I'm worth this much trouble," he said as he kept his sword at the ready. "For you, maybe… but not for the entirety of whatever group you belong to. What's your general goal?"

It was made clear to him by the man's previous comments about this unknown Salem that he was indeed working with others on something. Additionally, actions on such a large scale like this can't simply be the work of just two or three individuals, not with everything going on. That meant this man had other associates, but just how many was unknown. In any case, Jaune was pretty sure that this entire group wasn't out just to get him. No, his death appeared to be the goal of only this man before him.

That said, he wasn't expecting a direct response. Real life wasn't like movies or stories where the 'villains' share their grand plans with whoever is willing to listen. But with how this man is like, just maybe…

"…Hmph." The man seemed almost amused. "You truly are too smart and dangerous for your own good, Jaune Arc."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. The man actually knew his name. That carried certain implications, implications that he wasn't exactly liking.

"True, your death is my own goal, but there's no denying now that you'll end up a person of interest to the rest of my associates anyways. Sooner or later, your death will have to happen lest you become a genuine threat to our plans," the man said, bristling as he began to slowly close the distance between them.

"You've only yourself to blame for that," Jaune immediately fired back as he prepared to attack. "You're the one willingly telling me all this."

The man grunted in acknowledgement. "You're correct on that front, I'll give you that. Just why, I wonder…? Why am I even bothering to speak to you at all, you damned slave…?"

At that, Jaune was the one to bristle now. "Like I said earlier, a slave I may be, but going through with this is ultimately my own choice. Call me a slave or a fake all you want, I now know the truth of myself. That's more than what could be said about yourself, probably."

That comment, of all things, got the man to stop dead in his tracks, even stagger as if suddenly struck hard. Whatever the man had been about to do was halted not through action but through words alone.

The man then bowed his head as if deep in thought.

While that was a thing, Jaune continued to speak, coming to a sudden realization. "…This hatred you hold towards me… do I remind you of someone you once knew? Such as yourself from long ago?"

As such a thought came to him and was voiced, Jaune's expression of quiet fury slowly fizzled out and he now sported a muted look of understanding and even empathy. "…Even if not in the same way as me, you were a slave too, weren't you?"

The man flinched but said nothing. He raised his head a second after, however, and eyed him blankly, not so much actually looking at him but at something else entirely.

Perhaps he was somehow looking at himself, Jaune mused in silence.

He understood now, though.

The man had once been like him. In what way exactly, he couldn't fully fathom but he could tell now. At some point in the past, this man must have walked a path similar to the one he now walked, except at some point, the darkness of the world and humanity had become too much for him to continue going against.

…Could he have ended up like this?

Again, he'd be lying to himself if he just flat out said no. Before all this, back when he'd barely started Beacon, Jaune had felt himself growing… unsettled. Growing disquieted. Even with how controlled he was by his semblance at that time, his suppressed true self had been teetering on the edge of uncertainty and despair. For no matter how much good he did, no matter how many people had genuinely been thankful for his aid, there'd been just as many failures and accusations prior to that.

His journey out there on the frontier hadn't been an easy one. A lot of the people around him may possibly view him as someone infallible, who always did the right thing. He was not oblivious to this view some people likely had of him as of the time he started at Beacon, but that impression of him they had was a lie – he was far from some perfect or truly ideal hero. If he really did seem that way to them, then such an impression was only due to him first experiencing enough failures to properly learn and grow from.

It now felt to him that this man had gone through that same process… except it looks like, for however much success he may have enjoyed, the number of people that actually recognized this vastly outweighed that accomplishment.

And at some point, the man had broken free of his own slavery too… except not exactly in the same way Jaune just had, otherwise he never would've gone down this current path of his, this path of self-loathing and destruction.

Against his more immediate instinct, Jaune lowered his blade and looked just a bit sympathetic. "…From one former slave to another," he began. "Isn't it time to finally stop all this? It's okay to finally walk away from it all."

Alas, it looked like what he'd said ended up being the exact wrong thing to say, for the man looked at him, genuinely looked at him… and wasn't pleased in the slightest.

"In light of whatever realizations you've just come to," the man started darkly. "Can _you_ bring yourself to walk away?"

That made Jaune himself freeze for a split second – a split second that cost him.

The man's power surged, even greater than before, and he kicked the blond hard in the chest and sent him flying a few solid _kilometers_.

Jaune smashed through a few buildings in the process before finally coming to a stop, having to bury his sword into the ground just to force himself to slow down in the first place.

He glared at the man, anger now burning within him again. Whether this anger was directed at the man or himself or both was unknown.

"Fine then," Jaune muttered in a mixture of anger and sadness. "So be it."

Looks like it was time to finally end this. He couldn't afford to let this fight continue any longer anyways, what with city hall's currently unknown fate.

He could literally feel the power of the man from here, an unbelievable combination of heat and power washing over the entire area.

Jaune raised his blade and prepared for the next incoming attack.

And sure enough, an attack came – one that he was genuinely not ready for at all.

The sky went dark and not from the fact it was a cloudy afternoon nor even from all the Atlas ships and avian Grimm.

No, it went dark as storm clouds instead formed _directly above him_.

Jaune almost goggled.

"That's… new," he uttered quietly.

And then a storm of lightning and fiery hail rained down upon him.

* * *

Him, a slave…? Such words had rattled Hazel to his core.

He'd honestly thought as much himself at some point, but there was a world of difference between what he'd thought at the time and how Jaune Arc had meant it. The blond had meant it in the same exact context as himself, a genuine slave to his semblance and its terrible hold over him.

All the time and energy the man had spent just focusing on how disgusting an existence Jaune Arc was had gone away for that exact minute, just long enough for him to reexamine himself in that new context… and the realization that he and the boy were _that_ much alike had rendered him truly shocked.

But then, when the blond had dared to try talking him out of this, that'd been when his anger had reignited. Though he wasn't oblivious to the changes Jaune Arc had clearly gone through in these past few minutes, the blond was hardly one to talk at all.

Hazel had then said as much before punting the boy as hard as he could.

But just before he could immediately follow up, his scroll, which had somehow survived the entire battle so far, beeped and threw him off his rocker for an instant.

"What?" He'd answered far more gruffly than he'd intended, putting it on speaker.

And of course, it was Watts who spoke. "Hazel," the man began with a breathless tone, as if he'd forgotten how to breath for a minute. Something had caught the man off guard, though not enough to call him, which meant that something was happening, a change in the situation. "As much as I hate interrupting your work, I'm afraid you're going to have to cut things short – the situation at city hall is beginning to come to an end now. Ironwood's fleet is also beginning to clean up all the Grimm flying above Vale right now. It'll only be a matter of time until they take notice of the havoc you two wreaked and come for you."

Then Watts paused for a split second to catch his breath and continue. "…And Cinder's scroll signal was just lost. Something is going on. I don't know what, but we must retreat for now lest our current plan derail like Cinder's plans have."

Hazel grunted.

In light of his semblance and how much stronger he felt now compared to before the battle, Hazel could realistically assess his chances against the Atlas fleet and that of Beacon's own forces… and his odds were actually looking extremely favorable.

However, now was not the time to truly cut loose. Not when Jaune Arc still drew breath.

In any case, this wasn't a solo effort – though he'd be hard-pressed to truly call them his comrades, Watts, Tyrian, Cinder and whoever else she has under her command… they were his associates. They all had roles to play.

It pained him, but he would have to withdraw, a thought that bothered him only marginally actually. If anything, this would give him time to fully recuperate and perhaps learn why the Dust has been affecting him this way.

But first… he could at least get one final shot in.

Calling forth his power one last time, he aimed towards the sky above where he'd kicked the blond to and through a great deal of concentration, he gave rise to storm clouds, only this were obviously not like real storm clouds.

Thanks to the Dust in his veins and whatever else was going on in his body, when the storm clouds took action a second later, dozens of lightning bolts, each one wider than a car and even faster than actual lightning, along with hail comprised of flames exceeding a thousand degrees in temperature, rained down upon Jaune Arc's current location.

Hazel highly doubted now that such a last-minute attack would somehow kill the blond, but it would at least keep him occupied long enough for Hazel to make a retreat.

Doing this, the man turned around – only to pause for just a moment, dwelling on all that's happened these past several minutes.

"…" He made a sound that one would be hard-pressed to describe as being that of a human. As to what this sound meant, not even the man himself knew; his thoughts were too much of a mess right now.

But as he did begin his retreat back to his group's temporary base, he was certain of one thing – that when he and Jaune Arc clashed again, it will be their final clash.

And whether or not one or both of them will die, Hazel intended to see it through to the end.

That meant that before that time comes, he must complete his other goal first.

"Ozpin…" he muttered as he rushed off. "Your time is coming soon. Mark my words."

* * *

 **And that's it! Heh, bet you guys thought I'd show the rest of the fight between Ozpin and Cinder at the end there, right? Not to worry, that will be shown and wrapped up in the next chapter. Please look forward to it.**

 **On that particular note, this situation as a whole will be wrapping up in the next chapter. This is not a spoiler, merely a statement of fact, for as I'm sure this chapter made pretty clear, things were already winding down anyways.**

 **Now then, to clear up some stuff. Firstly, the whole thing with Blake and Adam. Blake's relative inactivity during all the fighting is due to not having her weapon, thus being severely deprived of options. Sure, she has her semblance and whatever unarmed skills she has, but in a situation as chaotic as that, where her mom and the council was at severe risk of injury/death, going around fighting like she would normally would be impossible. Plus, with so many other combatants around, the possibility of accidental friendly fire was pretty damn high and no number of clones was going to let her avoid that if she got careless.**

 **As for Adam and how well he was doing relatively speaking, the reason behind this is more or less the same; in terms of overall combat prowess, I'd put him above most huntsmen trainees but below fully fledged huntsmen. This is due to his apparent age which is close to Blake's as well as the more impressive feats demonstrated by the likes of Qrow and others at or near his level in general which are above Adam's. However, in a situation like that, where any missed attack could easily end up hitting the council members or Kali, the few huntsmen there couldn't fight like they normally do, especially since their first and foremost directive was getting the non-combatants out of there first, which Adam and his forces obviously took advantage of to control the general flow of the situation. Plus, with the room being as small as it relative to how many combatants there were and the sort of firepower they could unleash, it really worked to his advantage too, especially given his semblance.**

 **Now, as for Hazel and how the fight between him and Jaune ultimately turned out, as stated in the narration, his semblance combined with his growing strength makes him a walking artillery fortress, able to tank whatever comes his way and dish out all sorts of attacks from damn near any range. However, Salem's plan naturally takes precedence, which requires a degree of subtlety still and not even he would dare risk her anger at the moment.**

 **Additionally, thanks to a combination of everything said between him and Jaune and the mental effects the Dust injections were having on him (which, as the show seems to imply, really amplify his more aggressive/negative traits), he's just not in a good enough headspace anymore to continue the battle.**

 **Plus, from here on out, I plan to really examine Hazel as a character now. There's a reason I made him Jaune's foil in this fic and that reason will be especially apparent in the coming chapters.**

 **And on one final note – Jaune. As the last chapter demonstrated, he's started to break out of the mental hold his semblance has on him. However, he's not fully 'free' just yet nor near his full potential just yet either. He still has a fair bit more growth to do before he reaches that point, but when he does, I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I will enjoy writing it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe out there and take care!**


	36. Chapter 36

You know, circumstances behind our self-quarantining aside, it's been quite a blast for me. Finished up reading some books I've had little time to read normally, which felt grand. But more importantly, it gave me plenty of time to play Doom Eternal, heh!

On that particular note, I beat it! On Hurt Me Plenty, that is, ha ha. And man, let me just say that Doom was a pretty brutal game! As I stated last time, FPS games aren't my usual cup of tea so I was pretty much guaranteed to struggle right off the bat, but damn those demons were utterly relentless, especially in the last few missions! But when I beat the game, it felt amazing as all hell, pun intended.

Now I'm just abusing the hell out of the cheat codes, ha ha. Well, no, not really actually, just a few, mainly the Sentinel Armor, the Infinite Lives and occasional permanent Onslaught. However, as I'm now playing through the whole game again on Nightmare, I'm restricting myself to just using Infinite Lives and Sentinel Armor to get through it… and holy hell, if not for the latter cheat, I'd be dying in every encounter! Definitely lives up to its name as Nightmare! If not for the Infinite Lives cheat, there'd be no telling how long it'd take me to clear the game again!

But I'm learning still and am getting a bit better, so there's that, heh. But sheesh, even with Sentinel Armor, those attacks of the demons are no joke! Makes me shudder at how tough Ultra-Nightmare will be if I ever play it…

Well, that all said, I do hope you all are staying safe at your homes or at work, assuming the quarantining hasn't impacted your work schedules like it has mine. Hopefully, within the next several weeks, something of note will happen.

Now, onto the chapter!

Chapter 36

Ozpin swatted aside a shot fired by the grey-haired young man before pivoting to avoid the chain thrown his way by the teal-haired girl.

At first, he'd had the three intruders completely on the ropes but after the woman, their leader from the looks of it, had managed to drive him back a bit with a sudden burst of flames, it'd given them the opening they needed to regroup and properly fight back.

And they were demonstrating considerable skill, with the teens proving themselves more experienced and skilled than most second and third year trainees. As for the woman, she was above even them in skill and power, made especially evident by her usage of the part of the Fall Maiden power she'd stolen. She was clearly here to finish the job.

"What's the matter? Not used to being on the ropes?" the boy cockily mocked as he dashed towards him and performed a few feints before finally unleashing several swift kicks.

Ozpin didn't deign it necessary to respond. He'd long since grown immune to being affected by such battle banter.

And he was hardly be put on the ropes – he'd merely been analyzing their respective combat styles as well as their teamwork.

Sure enough, the other two members of this trio – clearly the ones who'd gone up against Amber – sprung into action, the Half-Maiden quickly circling around him with the intent on attacking from behind while the girl leapt back and opened fire at him from his other side.

He didn't even bother looking her way as he deflected her shots whilst turning to avoid a swing launched at him from behind by the Half-Maiden.

However, as he dodged, he watched in mild confusion as the woman's attack instead ended up striking the boy – and with the boy's very form seemingly vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Ah, he thought dryly, that's what is going on.

Putting on a burst of speed, he backed off and swung at a spot of seemingly open air – only for his cane to end up clashing with a leg that couldn't be seen.

As the boy's form faded into sight, Ozpin noticed the look of surprise on his face along with the girl making a sound of genuine surprise.

Having clearly not expected him to respond to his attack, the boy's attacking leg was completely forced back and Ozpin thrust his cane right into the boy's crotch, making him cry out rather shrilly. Then, he swept his cane and knocked his other leg out from under him before delivering a kick of his own to the boy's side.

The boy went sailing across the massive chamber and crashed into a pillar with enough force to partially break it and he went tumbling to the side.

The boy was neutralized now, if only for a time and now he turned his attention to the other two, having had plenty of time now to learn the ins and outs of their fighting styles.

"You bastard!" the girl cried out. Her red eyes glared at him hatefully before her own form faded from view along with that of the other woman.

Ozpin inwardly sighed. Did they really think that he'd not go for low blows or something? He may consider himself to be a civilized man, but when out on the battlefield, there was rarely if ever a time for politeness. If hitting someone in the privates was going to accomplish the goal of beating them, then that is exactly what he'd do.

Additionally…

"It's pointless," he said to a seemingly empty chamber now as he stood there. Then, he suddenly skipped forward a few feet, avoiding an attack that would've struck his back had he not dodged. "…Just give up. If you do, I can at least try to keep things civil."

There was no response, at least not verbally. There was, however, a response nonetheless and he turned and maneuvered his cane to deflect a few shots fired at him.

Said shots were clearly meant to distract him and he ruined whatever strategy the two had just come up with by using his current semblance to put on a burst of speed so great that he traveled a solid twenty meters in the time it took either of them to move even a few feet.

He then rushed forward and ducked on instinct, avoiding another attack – a burst of flames – that had been fired at his head. Stepping a foot or so to his left, he promptly reached out with his right hand and grabbed something – or rather, someone – right out of seeming nothingness.

It was the woman and she had all of a split second to comprehend her position before he choke-slammed her hard into the ground.

The concrete cracked and cratered, him having not been particularly gentle, he couldn't afford to be. And as much aura as the woman likely had, there was only so much injury and pain it could prevent from this.

Sure enough, the woman groaned in pain but even then tried to counter. Under far different circumstances, her willingness to continue on would be admirable, really.

But in light of the situation, Ozpin was far from admiring.

With nary an ounce of hesitation, he jabbed his cane right into her left eye, hard enough to get past her aura.

The scream the woman let out was truly something. He didn't let it go on for long though and he stomped on her face, knocking her out.

"Cinder!" the now sole remaining girl cried out as her concentration slipped and her form became visible. From the looks of it, she'd been about to run and swing at him just prior to what had happened right now. She then looked at him in utter shock, even fear. "H-How did you…?!"

Ozpin didn't bother responding. His earlier warning/call for their surrender had been the only words needed as far as he was concerned.

But really now, did they think he wouldn't recognize an illusion type semblance when he saw it in action? It was hardly as unique as many would likely think. Why, even as far back as his original life as Ozma, the more esoteric abilities were far from uncommon, though most of the people he'd personally known back then had preferred manipulation of the elements or even pure energy to fight.

Of course, from the looks of it, it would seem only the woman he'd just knocked out was the only one who might truly know of him from Salem.

Still, this girl and that boy had knowingly aided her in the attack on Amber and in whatever other plans she has. Thus, he wasn't about to show them any more mercy than he'd shown the woman.

In any case, the girl seemed to have regained her wits. Or rather, it would seem whatever feelings she held for the woman had gotten the better of her, for her shock gave way to anger and she went on the offensive, closing what distance remained between them to unleash a torrent of attacks. It was a true flurry of kicks and swings with those blades of hers.

Again, against most of the students here at Beacon, such an assault may prove difficult to deal with, but to a lot of the higher year students, it'd be hardly difficult for them to avoid. Thus, to one such as him, it was laughably easy to dodge and deflect each attack with only the slightest bit of movement involved.

It wasn't until she tried using her semblance in the middle of her attacks to throw him off that the headmaster finally took action.

Just as he felt that ever so slight niggling feeling in his mind that indicated the usage of an illusion being cast upon him, he made his move.

The girl had backed off and fired one of her blades at him. He moved to the side and lifted his cane before twirling it. It got entangled in the chain that connected the blade to the girl's gun and he gave a hard tug.

To his slight surprise, rather than drag the girl towards him, she let go of her weapon at the last possible instance… but it still took her off guard enough to make her stumble forward and he capitalized on this with nary a sound made.

Rushing forward, he slammed a knee into her midsection, knocking all the air out of her and then followed this up with a swing of his cane into her throat. It caught her at an angle, hitting that spot just under her chin and where her neck began, further obscuring her ability to breathe.

Lifting her right off the ground before suddenly slamming her back down, making sure the back of her head struck the floor first, Ozpin watched dispassionately as the girl lost consciousness.

Just like that, the battle was over. It'd only lasted as long as it did because that woman had been able to make that opening in the first place.

The chamber was once again as silent as it usually is, eerily so.

Feeling uneasy, Ozpin quickly rushed over to the section where Amber was kept, not caring that he was leaving those three unwatched – he knew for a fact they were out cold and would remain like that for a few hours at least.

He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding as he reached Amber and saw she was still there and in the same state as always, though that really wasn't much of a consolation in hindsight.

Confirming the relative safety of the Fall Maiden, he got on his scroll and called Glynda, who'd remained behind to help coordinate efforts out there in the field.

"Glynda, could you please meet me down in the chambers when you have the time? We've had an attempted attack on our guest."

Just like that, he'd very quickly gotten her attention, having no doubt thrown her off completely. "…What happened? No, never mind, that can wait for later. I take it you've neutralized the threat?" she asked.

"Yes, the trio here have been incapacitated. If you could be so kind as to bring restraints for them, that'd be appreciated. We'll need to question them later once they're secured and awaken from their nap. How goes efforts out there too?"

"From the looks of it, progress is finally being made – the forces already on the scene have subdued the White Fang outside city hall and the bullhead had been shot down by an Atlas bullhead too. But city hall itself… it's been brought down," Glynda reported.

Ozpin went still at that. "…What of the council and everyone else there?"

"We don't know yet – it just collapsed not even a minute ago. Our students and faculty are still helping officers and the other huntsmen take care of things outside. As for James and his forces, they've started to push back the Grimm for good. Things are calming down bit by bit, however."

Ozpin silently sighed. He felt so very tired all of a sudden. "I see. I'll stay here with our intruders until you can come secure them. Until then, keep me posted of any other changes."

Glynda gave a quiet yet resolute affirmative before ending the call.

The headmaster then went back out to the other chamber and located the three combatants. Unceremoniously dragging them closer to Amber's chamber so that he could keep a watchful eye over all of them, he now stood vigilantly nearby, cane resting atop the floor and his hands atop the cane.

He stared at the three intently.

There's no way Salem would've only sent three people of such mediocre ability to obtain Amber. The woman he once called the love of his life may be a minimalist of sorts but really, that just meant she preferred quality over quantity.

And going by all he's learned from JNPR's mission to Sol and Qrow's troubles out there in Mistral, there were for sure at least two others in service to the aptly labeled Queen.

Just what were they – Hazel and Tyrian – up to right now? And were there just a few more out there serving Salem?

He had no way to know.

But one thing he did know for certain was this: now more than ever was the time to finally get active. It matter not that he's yet to grasp all of Salem's new cards – if this kept up then there'd be no telling when he'll truly slip up and cost the kingdom gravely.

It was time to finally change up the rules of this 'game.'

* * *

Blake groaned in pain as she kicked off the rubble that had quite literally buried her. She wasn't the only one buried, however, and she was quick to ignore the pain as best she could to begin throwing aside the other rubble around to look for her mom.

"Mom…? Mom!" she cried out as she dug desperately.

"…Over… here!" her mother called out.

Blake rushed over to the sound of her voice just in time to see more rubble be shoved aside to see some of her parents' guards pulling themselves and her mother free. They were bloodied and battered, but overall in one piece still.

Blake let out a sigh of relief so great that she visibly deflated… but only for a brief second.

As she rushed up to her mother, she looked around, praying for the safety of the others.

And as if to answer her prayers, a lot of the rubble suddenly levitated directly up – and the familiar glyphs of her white-haired teammate could be seen.

"Oh… I can't believe I'm saying this… but I believe I need a vacation," muttered a very tired and dirty Weiss, her normally pristine clothes and hair covered in dirt and just a bit of blood. She didn't look too injured too.

And out from this rubble emerged a comically groaning Ruby, who was quick to inspect Crescent Rose to see if her 'precious baby' was still in one piece. Additionally, the council members along with a number of the huntsmen could be seen emerging from this too relatively unscathed, the latter bunch much more so than the former due to their aura and natural hardiness.

But there were still just a few people missing, Blake thought in worry.

Where was her dad? Yang?

…And was Adam and his forces still standing too?

With her mother safe and sound, relatively speaking, Blake turned to her and the child and mother looked one another in the eyes, communicating without actually saying a single thing. Her mother smiled and nodded. 'Don't worry about me,' her eyes seemed to say.

Nodding, Blake went on the move, heading for where she'd last seen her father. One of the guards joined her and together the two of them started to tiredly push aside debris to see if they could locate the man.

At first, all they located were some of the White Fang, those that had come with Adam. Some of them were still alive, but far from unscathed. And others… Blake tried not to retch; it would seem their auras had been run down enough that the collapse of city hall had just gone and…

Despite having seen more than her fair share of bloodshed, the sight of the dead still left her more than queasy… and the mere thought her father might be among them only made her insides churn that much more.

"Dad? Dad! If you can hear me, then please-!"

"I'm – right – here!" a hurt but still strong voice called out as a bunch of debris burst upwards, causing her and the others nearby to shield themselves for a quick second.

Blake's heart lifted as she lowered her arms and spotted her dad – only for it to then drop as she spotted him holding someone in his arms.

Yang.

And she wasn't looking so good.

Having been one of the closest to Adam at the time he'd unleashed his final attack, she'd taken part of the brunt of the attack.

And there, along her torso was a truly nasty gash that was bleeding out more than a bit.

"Y-Yang!" Ruby cried out upon seeing her sister. Weiss could be heard gasping as well as she turned in their direction too.

"She needs medical attention _now._ " Her father uttered this gravely, even as he slowly and painfully lumbered forth, a sign that he'd been hurt too.

Thankfully, it would seem that the fighting outside had settled down a fair bit, for numerous voices could be heard nearby and getting closer, clearly that of friendlies.

But would Yang last long enough to get that attention? Blake didn't know, but she didn't waste any time trying to find something, anything, with which to place over her partner to staunch the bleeding.

"W-What about-?" Blake tried to ask as she and her friends immediately fretted over Yang.

Her father shook his head. "If Adam is still buried under the rubble, then only time will tell if he's alive."

That the young man hadn't burst forth to try one final time at attacking any of them so far seemed like a good sign as far as Blake was currently concerned… but even so, she tried to keep her guard, as beaten and haggard as she was feeling right now.

As people finally began to move all around them and the general chaos seemed to genuinely die down, Blake could only focus alongside her teammates on Yang.

Whatever would happen from here on out regarding her personal situation, she didn't know nor care. As long as her parents and partner turned out okay, that'll be more than enough for her.

* * *

Watts grunted in a rather ungentlemanly fashion as he looked over the new facts.

Slowly yet surely, the forces of Beacon and Atlas along with the other authorities out there had started to reverse the situation; the Grimm were being crushed and the remainder of their forces driven off while the White Fang out there around the collapsed city hall were finally being subdued and none too gently, it must be said.

But more than that, the tracker he'd placed in Cinder's scroll had been lost. Given how durable the scrolls he'd procured for himself and his allies were, it must have been damaged during whatever scuffle the young and arrogant woman had gotten into.

And given just what exactly the woman's mission had been, the disgraced scientist was willing to bet all the dirty lien he had that Ozpin himself had been the one to stonewall the woman and her two bratty subordinates… and that was one foe he highly doubted Cinder could overcome, especially with only half of the Fall Maiden power.

"Looks like Salem's expectations for you have been gravely misplaced," he commented aloud.

Oh well, he thought, it wasn't as if he'd had much faith in Cinder's abilities to start with. Oh, sure, she'd had the potential to be something of note, but her ambitions and arrogance had far outweighed her current abilities and said potential. Her impatience had always been one of her more notable faults too.

The chances of Ozpin and his forces interrogating her were so high that it was inevitable, really. Whether Cinder would eventually cave or not, however… well, she was stubborn, he'll give her that much. There was a possibility she could hold out.

Not that it mattered – even if they could extract from her the extent of Salem's plans, it wasn't as if she or even him knew the full extent of their dark mistress' machinations. And no matter what info they could possibly force out of Cinder, there's no amount of preparations they could make to stop him once he gets his hands on the prototype James had taken from him, much less Hazel or the sheer amount of Grimm Salem will eventually throw Vale's way.

Really, it was also inevitable that the kingdom would fall. At best, Ozpin and his side would only be able to ensure the survival of a relative few and nothing more.

Still, the current situation was enough to ruin his good mood somewhat. For as much chaos as Cinder and the White Fang had caused, it would ultimately achieve nothing of note. He may have gathered valuable data from the battle between Hazel and Jaune Arc, but that'd really been the only thing of note.

Sensing that nothing else could be gained, he fiddled with his rings and brought back online all the cameras and comms that he'd shut down earlier. At this point, it didn't matter if a few more people would've died or not had he just kept the comms systems down longer. All of it wouldn't matter once Salem herself made her move.

As he did this, he opted to look through the cameras around city hall.

Doing this, he got to spot an all too familiar figure slinking away, slowly but gradually picking up the pace.

His lips twitched upwards in mild amusement.

"What a resilient individual you are, Taurus," Watts mumbled as he spotted the limping figure of Adam Taurus retreat from the collapsed city hall. Looks like his personal attack upon the council had really gone south, seeing as he and only a scant few other White Fang members were now retreating.

Yet another overly ambitious and arrogant fool, Taurus was.

…

…For a moment, Watts debated that perhaps the rogue White Fang member could prove somewhat more useful than Cinder had. If nothing else, Adam Taurus was quicker to act than Cinder, who'd let things sit too long before finally doing something of note…

…But no. As he'd just pointed out if only to himself, the bull Faunus was far too much like Cinder for his liking, too arrogant and too ambitious for someone of his ability to truly accomplish anything of note. In all likelihood, he would probably just be a liability at best, a true hindrance at worst.

And as useful as his attack had been in giving him and Hazel the opening needed to go after Jaune Arc, the chances of such usefulness ever occurring again was close to none.

He highly doubted the man could ever regroup in time to prove to be a hindrance, no matter how minor, to Salem's plans… but better to dispose of the trash now rather than later, he supposed.

He called Hazel's scroll.

And when the man gruffly answered, his voice still rather distorted – how odd, Watts thought, normally by now the Dust injections start to wear off for his large comrade – the former Atlas scientist got right to the point.

"I know you're in the middle of heading out, but can you make just a quick stop first?"

* * *

Adam grimaced as he kept on moving, with only a few of his men remaining by his side, those that had proven just tough enough to survive his final blow and had crawled out alongside him before the others no doubt got up too.

It hurt like hell, both physically and psychologically, to know that his assault had ultimately been for nothing. Though there was a possibility that at least some of the council members could've died in his final attack, he wasn't feeling too certain of it.

And for sure, Blake likely survived. While hardly the toughest person he knew, she was resilient in her own way.

"Damn it all…!" he growled out.

All of those men and women that had accompanied him for this assault… most of them now either dead during the chaos of battle or otherwise incapacitated and now within custody.

Oh, he didn't doubt this would still send the message he wished to send, that humanity should certainly not underestimate the might of the White Fang nor the lengths they'd go to achieve their goals… but it would lack the bite he'd been hoping to give it by failing to kill Blake and the entire council.

And there was also no doubt now that once word of this got to Sienna that she would no longer hesitate at all in going after him. Of course, his actions here would also inspire the true patriots among the White Fang that now was the time to finally rise up and join him, but that'd only result in a civil war, a war that would only distract them all from what actually had to be done.

Somehow, he must deal with this. He had to or else the cause he'd given everything for would end up getting put on the backburner of all things while the White Fang tried to sort itself out.

But the only way he could think of to do that… would be to depose of Sienna.

…

…

…That he was even entertaining such a thing honestly made him sick. Much like with Blake, Sienna was someone he had a lot of history with. When he'd killed to defend the group back then, when Ghira had still been with them, she'd defended him against Ghira's accusations and had praised his decisiveness and willingness to do what had to truly be done to ensure Faunus equality.

He and her had gone through a lot together and despite the eventual split between them, he did consider her to be a sister-in-arms.

…But.

Even as he and his remaining forces limped among the shadows, he closed his eyes for a moment.

But even when considering the bond he and Sienna had, the cause came before all else. No personal friendship mattered more than doing what was right for their entire race.

…Very well then, he thought tiredly. Sienna must go, for the good of the White Fang and even all Faunuskind-.

He suddenly came to a stop and his remaining men, as battered as they were, were just as quick to do the same.

Adam, having been holding his blade all this time, held it up defensively and his forces raised their weapons as well.

They were not alone.

Their nearly-perfect night vision worked just as well with shadows and they watched as a behemoth of a man suddenly rounded a corner and approached them.

Judging by the state of his plain clothes, he'd been in one hell of a fight and yet he sported no injuries of any kind, none that were visible anyways.

He gazed at them with intense hazel eyes, his muscles bristling with every step he took. There was also a visible crackling sound seemingly emanating from him and this sound was accompanied by a flash of actual lightning that danced along his massive form.

The hairs on the back of Adam's neck raised. This man was dangerous, incredibly so.

But even then, he didn't back down. "I don't know who you are, human, but back off." As dirtied, bloodied and battered as he was, he took up an aggressive stance. Part of his mask had been destroyed, revealing the horrible scar on his face that served as reminder every second of every day about humanity's unjust cruelty. "Move or I will cut you down."

The man said nothing but did come to a stop just several feet away. He focused his gaze specifically on Adam now and seemed to look into the very depths of his soul.

To Adam's surprise, the man then sighed. "…I see. Yet another fool." The man closed his eyes now, but only for a split second. "Very well. I'll put the lot of you out of your misery."

At those words, Adam bristled and prepared to move – only for the man to move far more quickly than anyone had a right to.

The last thing Adam saw was a massive fist coated with lightning and fire heading right for him-.

-And then, all the man knew was absolute darkness…. Followed by nothing at all.

* * *

After a few minutes, the storm that had been conjured above him finally died down, giving Jaune a chance to finally assess the situation in a relatively calm fashion.

First, he assessed his current condition. The most immediate thing he picked up on was his state of wear or rather his near lack of wear – his long sleeve shirt had been completely burnt away along with his shoes and socks and part of his pants. That his modesty was even remotely protected at all could be considered a genuine miracle.

That aside, he hadn't emerged unscathed from the battle, much less this storm the man had conjured up at the last possible moment. Though his wounds were already beginning to heal, there was no mistaking just how severe the bruises and burns were, to say nothing of his damaged organs and fractured bones. But again, they were healing already. It'd likely be an hour or so before he was back to peak strength.

In any case though…

"…He took off," Jaune murmured almost bitterly, feeling let down for the first time in a very long time, a sign that he wasn't quite as affected by his semblance's mental pollution as he was before. This fact was truly a mind-boggling one and one that he very much welcomed.

Alas, he had no time to dwell on what exactly this could mean nor bask in his emerging 'freedom,' not when a man that powerful and skilled had gotten away.

And of course…

He immediately dashed out into the open and looked upwards and then towards the direction city hall lied in. Even from here, he could tell something had gone down, perhaps quite literally at that too. But the number of Grimm roaring out there and up above were far fewer in number than before, meaning the Atlas fleet was succeeding in driving them off.

But what of everyone over near city hall? At that though, Jaune sheathed his blade and began to rush back there as quickly as it could.

Despite the distance between his current location and city hall, to say nothing of all the freeways and buildings in between here and there, he still moved with absurd speed, leaping and twirling and twisting with the grace of a true acrobat as he essentially parkoured his way there in the span of a minute tops.

And what he saw was enough to make him come to a halt.

City hall had been brought down, reduced to nothing more than rubble. The fighting may have stopped and ambulances may now be everywhere in the area, but that really only made him more nervous than not.

"Jaune!"

The blond, having proceeded to stumble out into the open in the midst of his shock, turned to see Pyrrha dashing up to him now.

She looked him up and down and her eyes widened in horror, no doubt being able to tell that he hadn't exactly had an easy time of things either. "A-Are you…?"

"I'll be fine," he quickly responded, placating her immediately. "Unfortunately, the guy – the same one who'd launched the attack on Sol – had gotten away again… Pyrrha, what happened here? Where are the others?"

Pyrrha looked more than a little alarmed at what he'd just said, but much like him, she opted to stay focused on the matter at hand. "Nora and Ren are okay, they're just helping some of the others shift through all the rubble to make sure no one else had been crushed underneath. I'd been helping out too until I spotted you. As for team RWBY…"

He didn't like the way she trailed off. "Pyrrha, what happened?"

She closed her eyes for a minute before opening them and responding. "The White Fang had attacked – bullhead and all. And from what I've heard, Adam Taurus himself had led an attack on city hall. He along with a few others had managed to escape after collapsing city hall. For the most part, RWBY and the council along with all the others in there had gotten out in one piece… but Yang, having been closest to ground zero, suffered a large gash on her torso. They just took her away in an ambulance."

At that, Jaune's heart felt so very heavy. Arrogant as this may sound, had he been here, things could've turned out differently… but what was done was done. The simple fact was that he hadn't been here thanks to the efforts of that woman and that man. His friends along with all the other authorities here had to take care of things.

"Any idea if she'll be okay?" he asked.

"From what the paramedics said, she'll live, but they'd have to work quickly or else all the blood loss could quickly change that… the others… they've gone with her and they're very much shook up."

Jaune nodded gravely. Made sense. Still, the fact that Yang will pull through did put him at ease. That alone counted for a lot…

…But still, not enough.

He patted Pyrrha on the shoulder. "…You're okay?"

The redhead nodded slowly. "Physically, yes, just a little banged up. But…" she trailed off yet again, but she didn't have to say anything else.

Jaune understood.

Gently, he turned her around and coaxed her forward. He naturally followed beside her. As they walked, not a single person here gave them even a single glance, not even at his current state. They all had far more important things to focus on.

"…Let's do our part," he quietly said.

Pyrrha nodded.

And just like that, the two partners went back to lending their aid to the clean-up and rescue efforts.

As they linked up with Nora and Ren and wordlessly got back to work, Jaune's thoughts quickly turned to all the craziness that had just occurred between him and that still unnamed man.

He'd mentioned Salem, the same name Blake had overheard between the headmaster and general Ironwood.

At that connection, Jaune narrowed his eyes.

He wasn't sure what sort of connection there was between all this, but in light of all that's been happening over the past few weeks, he couldn't not pursue this anymore.

Once everything has calmed down a bit, he'll approach the headmaster by himself… and the two of them were going to have a long talk.

* * *

"…Yeah," Qrow muttered numbly in response. "Yeah, I got it. We'll be heading your way soon, Oz."

He then ended the call and practically dropped his scroll onto the ground.

And what a call that had been.

Some odd hours ago, the White Fang had attacked Vale city hall of all places… and his nieces and their friends had been smack dab in the middle of it. Yang had even gotten a pretty severe injury during it.

And what had he been doing these past several days? Helping his 'dear sister' and the surviving members of the tribe bury their dead and relocate whatever supplies and other shit they had to somewhere else.

Letting out a long sigh, he picked his scroll back up and tucked it away properly.

"Trouble back at Beacon?" his sister, who now approached him, asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe," he mumbled in response as he turned around to face her. "You and your crew finally all set up?"

He was tempted to bring up what exactly had happened there, bring up all the details Oz had been quick to obtain, including what had happened to Yang… but considering the talks he and Raven had been having ever since he's come her way, he doubted it was going to amount to much other than yet another needless argument.

Instead, he decided to tell her of the other thing Oz told him. "Someone tried taking a shot at Amber. If not for Oz, they likely would've succeeded in finishing her off."

Raven huffed. "So… looks like Ozpin's little stronghold isn't holding up too well against Salem anymore, huh?"

If that was meant to be a jab against Oz, Qrow wasn't having it. "And just one of her cronies came damn close to taking us all out too," he retorted bluntly, getting her to scowl at the fresh memory. "I can't say exactly how things had gone before, but it looks like Salem's not really pulling her punches anymore. You ready to finally take us back to Beacon?"

With her semblance and the fact she had a bond with Ozpin, Raven could the two of them to him in mere seconds. The only reason why she hasn't yet was, again, because she'd wanted to make sure the surviving members of the tribe were settled into their new base of operations first.

'Family first,' basically, which disgusted Qrow a whole hell of a lot, but he wasn't about to open up that can of worms again.

Raven sighed. "Not like we've much choice, do we?" It was rhetorical, her comment just now. As such, Qrow didn't respond and she instead turned a bit to face the others. "Vernal, for now, hold the fort down… and if that crazy bastard comes around, just… just run."

At that, her second in command – Vernal – grimaced but nodded. "…Alright. How long do you think you'll be?"

"Can't say just yet. Whenever Ozpin and I hash out the details of our… alliance, I'll be back. But we end up doing afterwards is something the two of us are going to have to talk out."

Vernal grunted. "I know we can't exactly back out now, Raven… but I'm still not sure about our involvement here."

"You and me both…" Raven replied before turning to him again. "You ready, Qrow?"

He motioned with his hands. "After you, sis," he drawled.

She huffed but obliged. Drawing her blade, she cut at the air and the red portal that her semblance manifested as made its appearance.

Then, in unison, the Branwen siblings stepped through it.

Little did they know, they had a watcher… and said watcher was none too pleased.

* * *

Tyrian hissed as he witnessed Qrow and Raven Branwen step through the portal the latter had made. The bandit leader's semblance was not unknown to him nor his fellow acolytes of her grace, but to see it in action was another thing.

Really now, the Faunus thought, what an aggravating ability.

Alas, now wasn't the time to interfere yet again, not according to Watts. True to the former scientist's request, he'd merely stalked after the Branwen siblings and the survivors of that pathetic bandit tribe after catching up with them… and what had followed had been nothing more than the pinnacle of tedium.

There was only so much entertainment value to be found in watching two grown adults bicker whilst moving things to and from one location to another. That they'd made this back-and-froth trip just a few times to ensure all salvageable supplies were seen to and their dead were buried really only made it that much more dull for the scorpion Faunus.

He'd been more than a little tempted to add to the number of dead they'd had to bury… but again, Watts' words echoed in his mind.

In due time, it would be her grace's opportunity to make her own move… and once she stepped out of the shadows she willingly cast herself in, she shall be making a grand statement indeed to Ozpin and his useless cohorts.

Thus, he had no choice but to allow the Branwens to make their exit from this backwater place. For he knew that if they did indeed intend to stick close to Ozpin and the others on his side, then that would only save her grace a fair bit of time looking for them all.

For once she puts her plan truly into motion, all of Vale will fall before her and her enemies will all be wiped out in one fell swoop.

This much did put him in a considerably better mood, enough to restore a huge smile to his face as he slinked off, leaving the relatively few bandits left to their own devise.

Considering his task now completed, Tyrian withdrew his scroll and began to call Watts to give him this critical update.

All the while, he kept himself amused with thoughts of all the screams that would soon sound throughout the kingdom of Vale.

Later that night as he camped out once more, Tyrian slept very well.

* * *

Off in a land warped beyond recognition, where the grounds have showed no signs of plant growth for centuries and where the very air itself appeared to be a mixture of varying shades of crimson red and purple, as if long since tainted by some dark higher power, there was a castle.

It was massive and dark and foreboding, its gothic design evoking a dread greater than the surroundings it was based in. Considering said surroundings consisted entirely of Grimm of all sizes and shapes milling about endlessly, that was saying something.

Like any other castle out there, it had a conference room as well as a throne room… and it was in the latter that one individual could be found resting in.

The woman was quite tall and dressed primarily in black yet with some bits of red here and there. Though modest in design, it fit her form quite well. It wouldn't entirely be wrong to say she possessed a beautiful figure.

However, whatever beauty this woman could be said to possessed was offset horribly by a number of things – deathly white hair and skin with a number of veins visible along her hands and forearms, blacker than night itself. Her eyes were a blood red and the sclera a contrasting pitch black. Some of these black veins also marred her otherwise regal features as well.

The contrast between these traits she possessed made for a dichotomy far more painful and terrifying to look upon than anything else in the world.

She _looked_ human and once upon a time, she had been human. Not anymore.

And just moments ago, this woman had been resting peacefully, dreaming even.

But as her senses, which extended beyond the physical, picked something up, she'd awoken in a literal instant.

And now this woman – Salem – sat upon her throne with an almost thoughtful expression. She hummed as she mulled over what she'd sensed – two great powers clashing against one another.

One such power she hadn't recognized at all, though the fact it was equal to that of a Maiden was certainly worthy of note.

But the other power… though it hadn't felt completely familiar, she recognized _his_ power when it was at work.

Just how was such a thing possible, she wondered? Honestly, not even her in all her many years of experience, could quite figure out how such thing could come to be.

In any case, her dreams, which could sometimes show her glimpses of the recent going-ons out there in the world of Remnant, had shown her two great powers clashing in what appeared to be Vale itself.

While not yet approaching the level of power she possessed or even that of Ozma's former might, she could tell that both powers had held that potential to do so…

…And one of those powers was on her side of all things.

She hummed again. "Well now," she spoke, if only to herself. "…It would seem you were a greater find than even I'd thought possible before, Hazel."

Now she recognized the latter power, the one that bore a meager portion of _his_ power. How very interesting.

Smiling slightly, her very presence now began to darken the room. This was not intentional, rather it was just in response to her very existence as her emotions flared ever so slightly.

It would seem now that rather than be just another pawn, Hazel could instead serve as her knight. Not that such a change would alter the general course of her plans much, but it could make things go just a little easier if she did things right.

And nothing would delight her more than to see Ozma's current life end in nothing more than pure despair.

This time, for good, she'll win… and she'll make sure that the man she'd once considered the love of her life will pester her no longer.

* * *

 **Just a bit shorter than a number of the previous chapters, but with reason – this chapter was more of a fallout chapter than anything else and really not much has to be immediately said on this front. Of course, the next chapter or two will further expand on all the changes that this recent incident will bring about, so do look forward to that.**

 **And now Salem has finally made an official appearance! Hope the description I gave her did decently in describing just how unnatural an existence she's become. And also expect her to start being more active now.**

 **As for her narration about Hazel, well, that's just something I'll be keeping under wraps a little while longer. But do feel free to guess at the details, heh.**

 **On another note, Ozpin - as you can see, he pretty much schooled Cinder, Mercury and Emerald, which really is what should've happened in canon. I mean, Maiden power aside, Ozpin has way more experience than Cinder when it comes to combat. And given just how many lives he's lived through combating Salem and who knows who/what else, I highly doubt he'd stick to fighting 'cleanly.' Now, I'm not saying he's going to be fighting dirty all the time, but if he sees an opening, he's going to take it and he's not going to care much if he has to get really rough to take advantage of it. So, yeah. Hope you like how I wrote him.**

 **Oh, and as for his comments about magic being able to do more than just elemental manipulation, well, it's hinting towards some other stuff in the future, heh. Hope you'll look forward to what I mean.**

 **Again, stay safe out there, everyone. Until next time!**


	37. Chapter 37

Hey there, everyone. As always, hope you're staying safe!

As for me, I'm doing okay. Been playing more of Doom Eternal as usual, even finally bothered signing up for Bethesdanet just to see what kind of nifty little bonuses I get by playing. Got the Phobos skin too which looks awesome though grinding for EXP since making the account has been driving me kind of nuts.

Additionally, was able to get Resident Evil 3 remake too. Been a blast and pretty tense too since it's been way too long since I've played an RE game (specifically, haven't played RE games since RE6 came out!) and so it's been a treat to play.

Alas, it's also been rather frustrating at times too, especially when playing as Carlos. His assault rifle, while damaging enough, eats up ammo like no tomorrow and his shoulder charge/counter punch just isn't clicking with me since I quickly got used to actually dodging as Jill. The horde of enemies thrown at players during his sections of the game too don't help.

To further compound my frustrations whilst playing as him, during the hospital section, those damned Gamma Betas kept on managing to land their one-hit kill moves on me even though countering their other attacks haven't been too hard. Then in my haste to continue, I accidentally accepted when the game offered to switch me to Assisted mode when I'd been playing on Standard up until then. It just felt like insult to injury but as there seems to be no way to switch difficulties mid-playthrough nor am I in a mood to start a whole new game just yet, I have to grit my teeth and bear with it.

…It didn't help either that, upon looking it up, it turned out I missed a lovely little assault rifle upgrade part during his section, which was in a safe and the document that held the code to it was the sole document so far that I've missed. Thus, when the game 'gave' me a rifle upon playing as Jill again, I was quick to abandon it in the supply box.

Well, mini-rant aside, it has been a good game so far, it's merely Carlo's sections that I feel I could've done without.

Anyways, hope whatever you guys are doing to keep yourselves occupied is accomplishing just that and with far less frustration on your ends, heh.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 37

Five slow and tense days go by, the entirety of Vale nervously wondering just what could possibly happen next after the White Fang's sudden attack on city hall.

To the very tentative relief of everyone, so far things appeared to be settling down… but it was far from being a truly good sign, what with the weeks-long gaps between previous incidents. Thus, a mere five days seemed like nothing so far.

For his part, Jaune would take whatever they all could get. While he wouldn't claim to be a glass half-full kind of guy, he found it best to be a realist with hope than a flat-out pessimist.

That said, these were truly hard times the kingdom was going through. More than a few had died during the White Fang's attack. In fact, a solid few _dozen_ had ended up dead during all the chaos, which hadn't been helped by the cameras and comms having mysteriously gone offline during the initial part of the attack. Many more had been injured during the incident and hundreds of thousands of liens worth of property damage had ensued, thanks to not only the battle against the White Fang but also his own battle against that man and the Grimms' assault on Vale's walls.

Truly, it was hard to say that things would be getting better any time soon. The council has since then declared the cancellation of any and all future events until further notice, Vytal Festival included. What this may mean in the short time was unknown, but long term, it'd mean a lot of the students and tourists from the other kingdoms would eventually be going back home… but not until things here have stabilized some more.

That all said…

"Urggh…" Yang was groaning from where she lied in her hospital bed, sounding very much like a petulant child despite being a teen. "I can't wait until I can have actual food again…"

"Yang, you will be grateful for what you get!" Ruby tried to say that in a domineering 'take no shit from anyone' tone but instead it came out as a kid just trying to sound like an adult.

The two sisters proceeded to quietly bicker, much to Jaune's and the others' amusement.

Yang had been critically injured during the last few minutes of the White Fang attack, but thankfully she'd managed to receive treatment in time. Combined with aura, she was already healing up very nicely, but the hospital was refusing to let her out until the doctors were absolutely certain she wouldn't be in danger of reopening the wound somehow or otherwise overstrain herself.

Thus, here he and his friends all were, crowded into Yang's hospital room and essentially watching over.

This, of course, included Blake, who was pretty much glaring at her partner. "Ruby's right, you know. Better to have something than to starve. And besides…" Her glare softened immensely. "Just think of how good your first pizza will taste once you are released."

Yang huffed. "Damn it, sweettalking me like that… you got guts, Blake."

"Evidently, she's more than you if you can't even bother eating that," Weiss chipped in somewhat smugly.

Jaune chuckled quietly at the familiar bickering RWBY was engaging in as were his friends. No, more than that – JNPR's sister team appeared far more at ease now than ever before. Going through a situation like that can have that kind of effect, he supposed.

He supposed too that Blake still being around also did wonders for their general mood. Of course, this included the mood of himself and his team.

To everyone's pleasant surprise and relief, the council had taken the cat Faunus' actions during the attack as a sign of her genuinely turning over a new leaf and so had opted to not have her arrested and processed into jail and later prison. This was not to say that her crimes back then had been swept under the rug and she could waltz away scot free; there were to be proper repercussions for her to undergo. However, in light of the aftermath of Adam Taurus' attack, the council had deemed her mitigated punishment to not be that high a priority right now.

Once they'd gone about getting Vale back to some measure of normalcy and investigated just how the White Fang had managed to launch an attack into the heart of Vale like that, then they'll call Blake back in for proper sentencing. Until then, however, she was released back into Beacon's custody, albeit on a form of probation.

In light of everything going on, Jaune was still not too sure what the exact details of said probation are, but he was just glad she was still here. He understood she'd eventually have to pay a legal price for her past life of terrorism, but until then he was perfectly satisfied with what he was currently seeing.

On an aside, he and the others had gotten a very brief chance to meet the B of RWBY's parents. Wonderful people, both of them. A pity they'd had to return to Menagerie to conduct their own investigation into what the White Fang had currently been up to, but they all more than understood the necessity of it.

"Well, if you're looking for something that's both healthy and tasty," Ren suddenly spoke up from nearby. The boy had an almost uncharacteristic smirk on his face. "I could always whip up one of my health drinks for you. That goes for you three too." He was addressing not just Yang, but the rest of RWBY.

The reaction was immediate.

Yang paled and turned slightly green.

Blake looked like she'd rather deal with a hundred dog – she didn't like dogs, much to everyone's amusement.

Weiss, normally a stickler for all things proper, appeared to be reconsidering life decisions.

Ruby just straight up looked as if some evil god had manifested into existence right before her own eyes.

"N-Now, no need to go that far there, Renny!" Yang said with a fake grin as she started to actually eat her hospital food. "Just you guys all being here for me is more than enough to make this taste good! Mmmm, it's alright if you're feeling jealous of me right now, Rubes. You too, Blake! And don't expect me to share, Weiss-cream!"

The others were similarly sputtering out various versions of 'thanks but no thanks' to Ren, who merely took it in stride, but Jaune did catch his fellow male shake his head slightly and go, "A true pity, they don't see the light," under his breath.

Jaune just chuckled again and patted his friend's shoulder. "For what it's worth, you can always count on me to take you up on that offer."

"And it's most appreciated, fearless leader," Ren replied with a smile, borrowing Nora's title for him.

Speaking of Nora, the girl just audibly retched from where she sat in a chair across from Ren. "Ugh! Just how did you turn out like this, Renny?! Have I not shown you the path of delight known as pancakes?! Pyrrha, don't you agree?""

Pyrrha, standing by Jaune on his other side, giggled. "I've never said this before, Nora, but I've always been more of a bacon and eggs person than a pancake person."

Nora faked(?) a look of absolute betrayal and proceeded to fake(?) cry over this matter.

Team RWBY took delight in the girl's apparent misery, laughing to themselves albeit quietly lest they bring down the wrath of the nurses that patrolled this floor, said nurses being tyrants who made damn sure the patients here _obeyed_ without question.

Yang appeared to genuinely _fear_ one particular nurse, one that Jaune has not yet seen and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little curious to meet this one.

Ah, and wasn't that also something worth mentioning?

Ever since the second battle with that man, something within him had changed. Before, whatever autonomy he'd possessed had been heavily influenced by his semblance's mental influence. But now? Not anymore… or at least, nowhere near as much.

It was like a colorblind person suddenly being able to see all colors or a severely depressed person spontaneously stumbling across something that lifted them nearly completely out of their depression.

To say this was a liberating sensation simply didn't do it justice; it was borderline overwhelming. Having acknowledged what his semblance does yet now also acknowledging that it was ultimately just an amplification of what was already there… somehow, this realization had triggered a change, an evolution of sorts, one that has yet to fully finish.

But one thing was certain – he was able… able to truly enjoy himself.

That isn't to say that the times spent with his friends so far have been unenjoyable or anything like that, no, far from it. He'd genuinely treasured his time with them all so far. However, during all those times, his thoughts had always been so terribly preoccupied with one thing or another, with wanting to be the best he can be so that he can help as many people as he can, save as many people as he can and bring ruin to those that would dare to cause harm to the innocent.

Basically, he'd always felt so distracted and antsy, at least to whatever extent his semblance would allow him to feel antsy.

But now? Not anymore. He no longer felt like he _must_ do this, _must_ do that. Oh, again, he didn't want to mistake himself. He still very much wished to help and save others. He will, if necessary, strike down those that would cause others harm. But the difference between then and now is that now he felt he could truly just… just live in the moment.

Much like how he was doing right now.

Listening to his friends cheerfully and casually quip and bicker with one another, adding his own two lien in here and there… it was a world of difference compared to before and he could almost bring himself to feel a sense of gratitude towards that unknown man for inadvertently helping him realize this change. Almost.

But true to life, every moment must always come to an end.

And now, it was time for this moment to meet its end.

"Well, I'm sorry to cut this short," he began apologetically. "But it's about time we got going. I've my debriefing to go do and my team here need to head out to Vale's walls again."

"Damn, that time already?" Yang mumbled as she looked towards the nearest clock. "…Phew, time just flies, doesn't it? Alright then, thanks for stopping by, you four. It really does mean a lot." She spoke not in her usual teasing and chipper tone but in a soft and genuine one.

"Yeah, thanks for being here for us!" Ruby added exuberantly.

Touched by their words, team JNPR bid them goodbye… and just before taking their leave, Jaune shared a very brief look with Blake, the two of them giving each other the smallest of nods. In a way, they could understand exactly what the other had been through, thus their strong bond.

Leaving now, the team swiftly exited the hospital and couldn't help but take a look around their immediate surroundings despite having done so every time they'd come into the city the past few days.

"It's still so hard to believe what had happened just days ago," Pyrrha whispered.

"Yeah… it's really nuts to think about all that stuff," Nora soberly chipped in, Ren silently nodding next to ner.

"Just goes to show that we all need to stay on our toes that much more," Jaune started. "...We need to be vigilant, now more so than ever before. But… but at the same time, it's also more important than ever that we cherish every moment we have."

His friends looked to him, partly in surprise since they too could very likely sense the change in him, but also mainly in understanding.

"You got that, right," Nora said with a big smile as she slapped a hand onto his back. "Heh, you're always giving us the best pick-me-ups, fearless leader!"

Jaune smiled lightly. "I do what I can. But honestly, you've more than enough good cheer for all of us anyways, Nora."

The auburn-haired girl just laughed as she hefted Magnhild, having had it in its compact form attached to her back.

Normally, huntsmen and trainees going through Vale with their weapons out in the open were few and in between due to being frowned upon, but in light of all that's happened, it suddenly became a necessity in case yet another incident started to brew, thus the civilians got used to the sight of armed huntsmen and trainees very quickly.

"Well then," Ren started. "I guess it's time we go our own ways, Jaune. We'll make sure to hold the fort down out there."

Jaune nodded. "I know you will. Be safe out there, okay?"

Both Nora and Ren nodded in confirmation before beginning to walk off for the nearest bullhead dock. Pyrrha, however, lingered.

She looked at him intensely but with a look in her eyes that Jaune couldn't quite identify. Upon noticing his staring, she blinked and blushed a little in embarrassment. "Sorry… it's just, you… you've changed, you know that?"

"…I have, yeah," he responded. "Is… is that bad?" He sounded a little confused.

His redheaded partner was quick to reply. "What?! Oh, no, not at all!" She was practically waving her arms around in a fluster. "It's… it's actually kind of good; it seems as if you're smiling more from the heart."

As if to prove her point, the blond leader smiled softly, for she was right on the dot there. "I guess so. It may be a little weird to you that I must've changed during a time like this, but…"

She shook her head. "No, not at all. Like you said, now more than ever, we need to cherish every moment we can get." She was smiling just as softly as he is. "…I think it's a good change, Jaune. Before, you've always felt kind of stiff and distracted, if you don't mind me saying… so seeing you like this… it's a good look for you."

"Thanks."

"Pyrrha! Come on! Don't keep us waiting on you lovebirds here!" Nora yelled out from where she now was down the street.

Pyrrha's face was quickly matching the color of her hair now. "R-Right, I'll be right there!" She then focused back on Jaune. "That Nora, always making funny comments."

Jaune just laughed. "Yeah, that's just how she is."

Pyrrha turned to leave now. "We'll be back later tonight. I hope your debriefing goes well, Jaune."

He nodded firmly and now he watched as his partner dashed off to join Nora and Ren. He waved as the three looked back his way and left.

It wasn't until after they were out of sight that he let himself sport a somewhat grim expression.

In a way, he'd lied to his friends just now.

Because of all that had happened during the attack, Beacon was requiring every student involved in it to be debriefed, thus that naturally included him and his team as well as team RWBY. However, it was not yet anywhere near his time yet to be debriefed on the matter.

This feeling of liberation had done more than just make it easier for him to truly enjoy the moment; it also meant he was even more willing to take the initiative.

And that's exactly what he'd done earlier today, not long after he and his team had even gotten up for the day.

He'd sent a private message to the headmaster, said message being 'an acquaintance of Salem stopped by to say hello.' And not very long after having sent that message, he'd received an official email stating his debriefing was to be handled by the headmaster himself during the afternoon, which was swiftly approaching.

Jaune was absolutely certain that the man would've called him in for a discussion like this much, much sooner, but with just how many people needed to be debriefed combined with juggling teams to send out on extended missions to monitor the walls just in case a new wave of Grimm came around due to the sporadic fluctuations in negativity, it was amazing that he was going to be discussing this Salem person with the headmaster today at all.

And while his team went out there to help patrol the walls, he fully intended to get as much info out of the headmaster as he could.

He knew he was likely about to get involved in something far bigger in scope than anything he's ever stuck his nose into before… but now more than ever, he felt it best to properly look into things.

Not just because he _must_ do so, but primarily because he _chooses_ to do.

With purpose in his steps, the blond made his way back to the bullhead docks that would then take him back to Beacon.

* * *

"Anything yet, Oz?"

Ozpin sighed as he took a seat behind his desk while Qrow, who'd been waiting patiently for his return, asked that brief question.

And there was no mistaking what the scythe-wielder was referring to.

"Not yet," the headmaster said. "She's proving to be exceptionally strong willed… but I sense that given enough time, she will give in."

He was referring to the woman he'd captured down in Amber's chambers. It'd been a time and a half balancing out relations with the council, public relations, and mobilizing what forces he personally had at hand to monitor the kingdom's walls and deal with any errant Grimm, but in between all this aftermath which was a form of chaos unto itself, he was able to inform his compatriots of what had occurred and together they all had taken the woman and her two subordinates into custody.

He and James had been questioning the trio over the past two days. And as he'd just told Qrow, to no real success so far, with the woman, that is.

With the other two, however…

"Through those two pawns of hers, however," he began, for that is what those two clearly were to the woman, mere pawns to achieve her goals. "We've managed to confirm several things."

"Yeah?" Qrow snorted as he folded his arms over his chest. "Let me guess – they confirmed the three of them were behind all the shit that has been going on ever since the school year began."

"More or less," Ozpin confirmed. "Much like the woman currently is, they'd proven stubborn at first, but after some persuasion, they proved just amenable enough to confirm having had a working relationship with the now deceased Roman Torchwick as well as some level of interaction with Adam Taurus' cell."

At that, Qrow grunted. "Damn, and here I was hoping you'd deny some shit… guess my semblance is still at work. That said… it took 'persuasion,' eh? How far did you and ole' Jimmy take it?"

"Far enough," murmured Ozpin before sighing.

He may be doing all that he is doing for an ultimately good cause, but no matter how good and just any cause could be, it could never change the fact that sometimes the limits of ethics and the like must be… pushed. And in the war against Salem, there'd been much pushing to be done throughout his lifetimes.

Those two youngsters – Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, their names apparently were – had seemingly expected him and James to be too merciful a duo to ever rough up others to get the info needed. For all their apparent experience working against the law, it would seem they'd still had a considerable sense of naivety within them – a naivety that he and his friend had quite literally and methodically beaten out of them.

…It always pained him to have to resort to such measures but in light of everything that's happened this time around, more measures must be considered and taken. He could only pray that whatever may happen in the near future won't ever require him to push the boundaries any further.

The road to hell was paved with good intentions, a road he's walked many times… and a road that he's come to discover could always get so much worse. The ancient wizard desperately wished to avoid further condemning himself.

Qrow grunted in distaste, showcasing his own disdain for having to go that far, but the subtle nod tossed his way told Ozpin that the man understood the reason behind such methods. "Guess even little shits like them have their moments of sheer stupidity. But I'm also guessing they didn't really say anything about our oh so esteemed 'Queen' either."

"No, not at all. They've indicated that the woman they worked for – Cinder – does report to a higher power, but they knew so little about this other person that it's useless. Not that it matters; the mere fact they deliberately targeted Amber says enough. Our primary concern now is getting this Cinder to talk – though she is no doubt just another one of Salem's pawns, she should hopefully be just privy enough to some of the details on the woman's current plans. She wouldn't have been entrusted with pursuing Amber for this long on her own without some measure of confidence in her on Salem's part."

"Right," Qrow muttered before then switching tracks. "So… are you really sure about what you and Raven talked about?"

In the somewhat immediate aftermath of the White Fang attack, Qrow had returned with Raven in tow, or rather Raven had finally come back and had been just kind enough to let her brother hitchhike via her portal semblance.

It'd been quite a tense conversation, but appreciatively blunt too. With how distrustful the woman was of him even now, it'd honestly made it easy for him to just tell her all that's been going on in great detail over the years. She in turn had spoken to him of how exactly she became the Spring Maiden. He may have expected as much, of course, but still, to hear from the woman herself about how she'd struck down the previous one just to obtain the Spring Maiden power… it'd hurt him.

The previous Spring Maiden hadn't been anywhere near ready… and that was on him. He'd thought otherwise and had trusted the young woman to stay strong in light of the dangers that would plague her life from then on. In his blindness, he'd neglected having her monitored as much and she'd run off. How the girl came upon Raven of all people was true mystery.

Truly, he should've done a much better job in watching over the Maidens, much like how he'd done in the past. Except, back then, he'd gone towards the other extreme and had practically kept the Maidens of those times as caged birds out of fear Salem would get to them. Even for him, it was insanely hard to find a perfect balance between restricting them and letting them be free, especially since even if he's capable of combatting Maidens themselves should they let the power get to their heads, it wasn't as if subduing an irate Maiden was ever all that easy.

Of course, it didn't help that only a select handful of individuals that he personally knew could actually combat a Maiden in single combat either, meaning if he wasn't around, the odds of any one or two individuals stopping a Maiden from fleeing in fright were abysmally low.

…That aside, Raven had made it clear to him that she was only forming this alliance with him on the basis that he leaves her and her tribe alone until needed and she in turn would do some digging around on her own and report to him should she find anything.

Honestly, calling it an alliance would be a stretch, rather it was more like a barely there partnership, but he'll take what he can get. Even though the likes of Qrow can comfortably operate outside of the law, he was still very much a huntsman and morally upright individual. There were lines he wouldn't cross. Raven, less so and her connections with others in the criminal underworld meant she was naturally privier to certain bits of information that would otherwise take Qrow or someone else much longer to come across. Giving her the same level of freedom she's always had in addition to his protection was but a small price to pay if it meant staying ahead of Salem's force on the reconnaissance front. Every little bit of useful info could be a huge boon.

"As sure as I can be, Qrow," he answered. His computer monitor then beeped, informing him that his cameras throughout the tower had picked up something. Looking at the live feed, he hummed. "Now onto another matter… Qrow, I've a guest coming right now. I'd like you to stick around as we talk."

The huntsman, who'd pulled out his flask for a quick swig or two, paused in mid-drink. "Yeah? And who'd that be?"

"A truly peculiar student," Ozpin began. "One who'd sent me a message just earlier today too – 'An acquaintance of Salem stopped by to say hello.' As you can imagine, he's my attention now."

That definitely got Qrow's attention, making the man take another and much longer swig of his flask, only to abruptly stop and curse under his breath; he'd just finished off whatever was left in it.

Nonetheless, the man got his act together a little when a knock sounded at the door. "Come in, Mr. Arc," Ozpin called out as he leaned forward a bit more in his seat.

The door opened and in walked the young man in question. Immediately, the headmaster sensed something… not off, but different nonetheless about the blond. A shift, but in what way he couldn't fathom.

Was it somehow related to this message he'd sent? Only one way to find out.

Jaune Arc spared Qrow a brief glance, clearly befuddled by the man's presence but nodded in acknowledgement all the same way. Qrow, for his part, just glared at the blond as he slinked off to the side a bit more.

"Please, take a seat," Ozpin requested, motioning to the chair before him. Upon the blond doing so and getting comfortable, the headmaster got right to it.

"Now then… tell me, Mr. Arc. Just what did you mean regarding your message?"

* * *

"-Just what did you mean regarding your message?"

Jaune sat there for a few seconds, deliberating on how exactly to begin. Obviously, he would tell the headmaster all that he knew, but not right away. He needed a way to get some info out of the man in the process lest he just waste a valuable trump card.

"I mean exactly that, headmaster. During the White Fang attack, someone associated with Salem chose that time to make their own move," he replied. "This person mentioned Salem by name… and I recalled you having uttered that same name too. It's clearly not a common name and the timing felt too convenient to be a coincidence, hence why I brought it up."

"I… see. So, what exactly happened? Can you describe this individual?"

"Of course. However, before I do, may I ask a question?"

"You may."

Jaune decided to be forward. "Just who exactly is this Salem, sir? To have someone like this on her side is…"

"…I'm afraid that's not something I can answer right now, Mr. Arc. You have to understand that some things are best kept secret."

At that, Jaune narrowed his eyes and inwardly scowled at himself. He didn't think himself to be stupid or exceptionally lacking in cunning, but it was obvious with how calm the headmaster was keeping his expression right now that the man had far more experience when it came to masking his thoughts and sweeping things under the rug. Plus, by now, the headmaster has likely gotten used to him causing all sorts of surprises. He'd been on guard, thus breaking the headmaster's composure wouldn't be so easy…

…Or so he would've thought before.

"Even if said individual is the same one who controlled the Grimm to attack Sol?" Jaune then shot back as casually as he could manage.

And much to his hope, his words did get a reaction. It was slight, so much so that if he hadn't been extremely close attention, he'd have missed how the headmaster's form went completely still for a microsecond.

But more than that, the unknown man off the side had definitely responded to his words, going from leaning grumpily against the wall to practically scooting forward a solid foot or two with a clearly stunned face.

"…Hey, Oz. Just the hell is Mr. scarface here talking about?" the man uttered after a quick minute.

Hmm, so it looks like this man was close enough with the headmaster to give him a nickname and yet the headmaster had kept this bit of info from him. Interesting. But it was painting an image of the man that Jaune wasn't sure he was liking so far.

Having launched his verbal surprise attack, Jaune decided to follow through by coming clean. "He showed up again in Vale… and he'd clearly been waiting for a chance to gun for me. He got his chance and the two of us ended up battling it out. At first, our fight took place in the middle of a highway despite my best efforts to move it elsewhere as quickly as I could. Then, our fight progressed to somewhere further out, where we were able to truly wail on each other. During our conflict, he mentioned Salem by name. He's also all but literally came out and said he was not the only 'acquaintance' that Salem has and that the White Fang was 'certainly useful when utilized right.' He'd even affirmed that whatever group he is a part of does have some plans… and I am apparently a big enough potential threat to these plans to warrant my death, at least in his eyes."

Saying all that, Jaune sat straight as could be in his seat and assessed what effect it'd had on the headmaster. Again, it was kind of hard to tell. As much as his previous question had thrown him off, the headmaster had been quick to school his features and very posture back to normal. Even the other little details Jaune could often notice in people – how fast their pulse was going, signs of sweating, etc. – weren't there.

However, the other man here was looking like he was debating unsheathing that big sword from his back and pointing it right at him. If such a maneuver would somehow lead to Jaune's questions being properly answered, then the blond was mor than willing to let the man have a go at him.

But, to his silent relief, the headmaster did finally respond. Firstly, the man sighed and then massaged the spot in between his eyes. He'd been looking quite worn out, but only now did Jaune seem to realize how exhausted the older man looked… and he didn't just mean that in the physical sense either; something about the headmaster… it looks as if entire lifetimes worth of frustration and barely in-check despair had suddenly started to seep off him like heat from a stove.

"Oz…?" the man called out, looking concerned. "Come on, talk to us here."

The headmaster looked to the man for a second before looking back at him. Jaune met his stare and matched his intensity, making him realize that he was very much awaiting a true response.

Again, to his relief, the headmaster seemed to falter. "Qrow, please remove your hand from your weapon. The last thing I need is my office getting trashed because we're both so wound up."

The man – Qrow – reluctantly did so and assessed Jaune anew "Well, kid. You sure have a way of getting our attention." He looked back at the headmaster. "Oz…?"

"Sir," Jaune decided to add, opting for one final push. "At the very least, can you please tell me who the man is? I got the feeling since returning from the mission to Sol that you knew more than you were letting on about this guy… and seeing as he clearly bears me a grudge, I'd at least like to know just whose attention I've gained."

"…His name," the headmaster began as he leaned back in his chair before getting up. "Is Hazel Rainart. He is… well, I would best describe him as a lost soul, a wanderer. He primarily stuck to the frontier and so information on him is scarce, but much like you had done, he'd built up quite a reputation for himself in his younger years. However, thanks to technology not being as omnipresent and advanced back then, he'd been able to go under the radar for much longer and effectively. At some point, however, he began to turn to a life of crime – primarily assault and murder, though it was usually due to others attacking him first from what I've been able to gather, he merely had a tendency of responding with too much force."

Jaune sat back and digested all this. "…There's more," he stated.

"…He once had a younger sister," the headmaster reluctantly continued. "She'd trained and applied for Beacon. Unfortunately, she ended up dying during a training accident. Hazel did not take that well at all and he further spiraled downwards."

…Ah, Jaune thought sadly. During the latter portion of their most recent battle, he'd come to gain a certain understanding about the man, this Hazel. And now, he understood him better. It was clear from how the headmaster was saying it that this sister had been the sole person Hazel had cared most about. To lose someone like that, it certainly wouldn't do wonders for a man's emotional state, to say nothing about Hazel who'd clearly been like he was once upon a time, a slave to some greater purpose.

…He wondered now if perhaps losing his sister had been what may have driven Hazel towards this Salem.

"I take it, not long after losing his sister that he somehow came across this Salem?" Jaune risked asking, wondering if the headmaster would answer. "If so…"

He trailed off, not really sure how to continue as he thought on this. His mind was working a mile a second, trying to figure out everything now just based on what he'd learned in this past moment, with little success.

"Most likely, yes." The headmaster sighed as he slowly grabbed for his cane and began to pace in the area behind his desk. "Because of what had happened to his sister, Gretchen, he'd come to hold me accountable for her death… and such animosity would make him a prime choice for Salem as an enforcer."

"Which then brings me back to my other question, sir," Jaune began. "Just who is Salem?"

"Kid, that's not really a person you want to hear much about," spoke Qrow in a quiet tone.

Jaune sighed, having figured to hear a response like that. "Look, I'm not asking for every single detail-." Not right off the bat, he thought. "-But at the very least, it'd be a big help if I had a general idea of who I'm dealing with and what may lie in store for me and possibly others. Now that I've made contact with this… this faction or whatever you wish to call them, me continuing to remain in the dark on this matter going forward will only be detrimental to us all. Lack of information can sometimes hurt infinitely more than bad intel. I'm sure you know that all too well, sir."

It was clear that there was a battle being waged in the shadows here. The headmaster and this Qrow were but two members of one side and this Salem and Hazel were clearly part of the other side. Now, how exactly both 'sides' can be properly defined was still unknown, but with him and his friends having been inadvertently dragged into this conflict thanks to the most recent incident, Jaune highly doubted that this would be the end of it.

Hazel very much intended on killing him one day, so it'd only be a matter of time until they did battle again. Even if that didn't happen, even if somehow someway, Hazel ended up reprioritizing things, now that Jaune was aware of him, there was no way he could let this go. Now that he was aware of such an immense threat existing out there, Hazel can't be allowed to take out his sorrow and bitterness on others like this.

And besides that… Jaune _wanted_ to settle the score between them. Not out of some spontaneous desire to prove himself stronger or something stupid like that – he still very much thought such desires were unproductive – but rather… he wanted to try helping the man. As he'd correctly assessed, Hazel had once been a slave much like he'd been. He wanted to try putting him to rest.

Was this stupid of him? To actively _want_ to help an enemy that before he would've simply been driven by his semblance to cut down and move on? Oh, no doubt about it. It was a significant change from how he was before, but a change he was swiftly embracing.

In any case, he still fully intended to defeat the man; after all, Hazel had made it extremely clear that any kind of actual talk they could have won't be happening so long as the two of them were capable of fighting. Thus, it would be inevitable for them to first try and kill each other.

A sad state of affairs, but life was never without challenge.

The headmaster ceased in his pacing to fully turn his way and look at him, silently debating over what to do his, said internal conflict made obvious through some minute shifts in his facial expression. Eventually, the man sighed and then let out a brief chuckle. "Your approach is as straightforward as your fighting style, Mr. Arc… but your wit does shine through nonetheless."

The headmaster took a breath and eyed him intensely, so intensely that Jaune actually felt himself feel on edge. The man before him had always been considered an exceptionally strong individual by sheer virtue of the fact that he was the headmaster of a huntsman academy, a position not easily given out to anyone, especially not when the rest of Beacon's staff, that being their professors, being such accomplished huntsmen and huntresses.

But now, Jaune could see a strength far greater than that reflecting in those grey eyes of the headmaster's. It was a strength, not just in a physical sense but also a spiritual sense, that far exceeded what many could even remotely compare to.

For an instant, Jaune wondered if the headmaster was about to attack him – and he wasn't too sure of his odds should such a thing come to pass. While he estimated his physical strength to be even greater than the headmaster's in addition to his speed and sheer endurance, the headmaster would no doubt be comparable in these respects, to say nothing of possessing far greater experience and skill. And of course, judging by Qrow's shifting stance, it wouldn't just be the headmaster he'd have to worry about.

But as quickly as this thought had struck him, it was just as quickly dismissed as the look in the headmaster's disappeared and the man motioned for Qrow to back down, who did so reluctantly.

"You do make a point," he muttered as he proceeded to rest his cane against the side of his desk. "…Forgive me, Mr. Arc, for being so unsettled – these have been trying times."

"I understand," Jaune said as he too settled down, his own tense posture having undoubtedly been what had gotten Qrow ready to attack in the first place.

"…I cannot tell you everything," the headmaster then said. "At least, I'm not sure if I can or should do such a thing. Even with how much more open this is all becoming, secrecy is still an essential tool here."

"…To keep the peace?" Jaune guessed.

"Yes. Now, I'm sure you're thinking that secrecy is quickly becoming a pointless endeavor considering how agitated the populace is already… but do believe me on this much, Mr. Arc, it could be worse. Far worse… and it is that potentiality that my allies and I are trying to avoid."

Jaune's hands balled into fists at that. The headmaster didn't strike him as a man prone to exaggeration, so the mere fact he was saying something like that even after all that has happened over the past several weeks and months… it made him wonder just how grand a scale this secret was on.

Nonetheless… he wished to know.

"And just what would this secret be?" he asked quietly.

The headmaster paused for just a few seconds. Whether it was out of uncertainty or a petty desire to make things suitably dramatic was unknown… but then the man finally began to speak.

And Jaune listened.

* * *

About a solid twenty or so minutes later, Qrow and Oz watched as the blond finally took his leave, the latter having explained to the teen what the true situation was like.

Qrow watched the teen go, feeling exceptionally bad; the poor young bastard looked like he'd mentally bluescreened, not that the huntsman could blame him for doing that.

That said though…

"You sure it was a good idea to tell him all that, Oz?" he asked once he was sure it was just him and Oz here.

Oz sighed. "You heard him, Qrow – in a short timeframe, he's come to learn a fair bit on his own. To let him continue on his own would only invite future trouble, especially if Hazel really is so invested in him now."

Qrow grunted, conceding to that point. "I guess so. Still, doesn't sit well with me, all this. Granted, not like we've ever known exactly how all this shit will go down, but with everything getting crazier and crazier every single day…"

"I know, Qrow. I feel the same. Too many unaccountable variables are making their appearances now and at the worst possible times. All we can do at this point is damage control, try to factor in this new knowledge and use it to our advantage."

Qrow looked at his old friend critically. "Does that mean you plan to use that kid?"

Oz grimaced. "You know my feelings on such things – if at all possible, I'd very much love to keep all of the children out of this. Not just my students, but literally anyone else if possible… but you and I know very well now that things are never ideal. Much like with the case of your niece, Mr. Arc here possesses a power unlike anything else in the world, which means he's now a person of interest to Salem and her pawns. And unlike the case with Ms. Rose, whose silvers eyes are rare but not something truly unique to just her, so far I've yet to recall a case much like Mr. Arc's. I take it you were able to tell too?"

"...Yeah, I was." Qrow let out a long sigh and had to make a conscious effort not to reach for his flask. He made a note to fill it up to the brim before taking off. "That kid definitely surprised me there. Even got me to nearly draw my blade."

He was referring to earlier, when Oz had eyed the kid so intensely that said kid had looked ready to actually throw a blow their way… and it'd been during that moment that the huntsman had been able to actually feel the power of the teen's soul. It'd practically rolled off him in waves and had been so great that for a split second, Qrow had thought even a Maiden would find this kid tough to defeat, if only in terms of pure unfettered power.

So yeah, this kid – Arc – was definitely an abnormal one. No way power of that level could just be chalked up to mere talent or whatever bullshit people could attribute that sort of thing to.

"Of course, if possible, I'd very much like to keep Mr. Arc out of this… but I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of holding any more cards back," Oz said quite reluctantly. "That I was willing to tell him of Salem's existence at all should be indication enough for you, Qrow."

"Not like you told him everything, though," Qrow pointed out. "Not about the Maidens or the existence of magic in general. You just told him about Salem's existence, her control of the Grimm and pretty much just that. You only barely mentioned the Relics or the Brothers."

Indeed, Oz had done his best to just vaguely mentioning those last two points in general, having just summed it up as the Relics being 'objects of great power' that were made by 'beings not of human origin' and that Salem had a vested interest in said objects. And again, the Maidens and their magic wasn't really mentioned at all, to say nothing of Oz's own pile of personal secrets, like his reincarnation shit and the like.

"Feels like you were just pointing a gun and getting ready to fire it." Qrow tried not to sound too accusatory here, but nerves frayed by all the shit that's been going down has really worn him down.

Oz at least had the decency to look upset with his own actions. "…I won't excuse my actions there. I did do just that. But, Mr. Arc's abnormal power, and the fact he's already gotten involved thanks to Hazel are not things that can just be dismissed out of hand. One way or another, he would've continued down this new path. I could tell by the look in his eyes, Qrow; this is not something he would've turned a blind eye to. It was either tell him or risk him going off and getting involved in ways that could potentially hurt our cause more than help." The man, having been looking away, now turned and faced Qrow. "In any case, It's not as if Mr. Arc will just blindly believe all I've said and take it at face value. He's demonstrated the ability and willingness to think things over. I may have pointed him in a certain direction, but he won't just go in that direction blindly."

Qrow glared at Oz and the man simply stared back, unflinching. After a minute, the former could only shake his head and break eye contact.

Damn it all, Qrow thought. He understood that sometimes to do a good thing, one had to take extreme measures but it was bad enough as it is with some of the Maidens of the past having gotten involved at so young an age. Now here they were potentially dragging in some brat not even through his first year of Beacon, abnormal power aside. At least with the previous Maidens and with him and the rest of team STRQ back then, they'd been sort of eased into this shitstorm.

"Well, that aside," Qrow began as he circled around the desk and leaned onto it, planting his fists on it in the process. "You kind of failed to mention Hazel Rainart somehow getting the ability to control Grimm."

At that, Oz looked apologetic again. "Something I'd genuinely forgotten to mention in the haste of everything. My apologies, Qrow. But… even if I had mentioned such a thing, just what is there to do about it? It isn't as if we've any way to figure out how he'd gained such an ability, though I highly doubt it's due to the same way Salem had gotten it… even then, we've no true way to counter it either other than killing any Grimm within any area he could be in."

"Maybe so, but like you and the kid pointed out, every bit of info helps, right? Come on, Oz. I know we all get a lot of crap on our plate, but we need to stay up to date here. Last thing any of us, especially me who gets sent out into the field, is getting mauled by some Grimm if Hazel decides to gun for any of us and we don't see it coming at all."

"I… I know. I will." Oz looked especially tired now. "…I'm doing what I can. Please, believe me on that much, Qrow."

Qrow, looking more haggard than he usually looks, could only scowl in acknowledgement. "Just… don't get too caught up with all this shit, Oz. United front and all that, remember?"

"I know, Qrow."

A long minute of complete silence followed, the two not being able to think of much else to say.

Eventually, Qrow backed off and stretched, loosening his tired muscles and cracking his back. Damn, he needed a drink bad right now. "…Well, if that's everything for now, I think I'll go pass out somewhere… maybe hit up my nieces tomorrow, surprise 'em and see how they're holding up."

Been a while since he's been able to see either Ruby or Yang. And considering the latter had gotten injured pretty bad in the White Fang attack, it definitely wouldn't hurt to check up on her, even if she always did get embarrassed whenever her family fussed over her, too much of a 'big girl' to be seen being fawned over.

…Heh, damn that brought back some memories. Damn brats and their childish ways…

"Very well," Oz responded, looking just a bit more chipper now. "That does sound like a good idea. I wish you a good night, Qrow."

Qrow, having turned around, could only waved nonchalantly. "Yeah. Likewise, Oz… and remember what I just said."

"I will."

With that, Qrow took his leave. But as he got in the elevator – how Oz got this thing fixed so quickly in just a few days was mystery even to him – and grimaced as he thought over everything that had just happened.

Just when he thought shit had hit the fan, he'd come to learn that it hadn't quite hit it completely, not just yet. If anything, now that he knew all this, it was starting to feel like the brewing of a major storm, cliché as that sounds.

The huntsman could only hope that his semblance won't end up adding to it… but as his life has proven so far, his semblance likely will only make things worse somehow. With how worn down he and Oz and everyone else on their side was getting, too, things weren't especially looking too good even with Raven agreeing to help.

And he sure as hell was hoping that Oz's new investment in that Arc kid won't backfire too. That would be another thing they didn't need.

And so, despite his best attempts, as he tried to catch some z's in a hotel room a half hour later, Qrow could only toss and turn in growing worry.

* * *

 **Before any of you worry over Jaune getting led around by the nose by Ozpin now, please don't – just because Ozpin had only told Jaune a fraction of the truth doesn't mean our resident blond is just going to take it at face value or anything. Like Ozpin himself pointed out, Jaune will be mulling over this new information and devising his own ways of doing things.**

 **And of course, despite Ozpin stressing the importance of secrecy, well, I'm sure it's obvious Jaune won't be keeping this info to himself. That isn't to say he's going to suddenly round up his team and RWBY and tell them all everything in one go, but it's only a matter of time until he does tell them what he's learned though, but not until after he's processed everything and come up with some conjecture of his own.**

 **Oh, and yeah, Ozpin and Ironwood really are beating/torturing Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. Granted, it's more of a last resort type of thing as they're attempting the usual 'good cop/bad cop' routine, but they know the trio are acting on Salem's orders so it's not quite the same as dealing with the usual types of criminals from their point of view.**

 **Additionally, those statements are meant to highlight the nature of war in general – doesn't matter which party is 'in the right' because no matter what the truth really is, all sides involved can't remain 'pure' forever. Such is the sad truth about natural escalation. As pointed out within Ozpin's section, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and morally ideal options don't always exist, especially not when going up against someone as patient and ruthless as Salem. Even a simple glance at real life history should more than demonstrate this all too real truth.**

 **Of course, that isn't to say Ozpin and his side are just as bad as Salem's or anything like that, but rather it's just to highlight how far they've been pushed and how far they must be willing to go sometimes.**

 **Well then, not much else to say, I think. Of course, the fallout of the attack on city hall is far from being unveiled just yet and the next chapter or so will still continue to detail this in addition to showing what other moves are being made behind the scenes, so do look forward to that.**

 **Oh, and please do note Jaune's character development too. Please let me know if it feels natural. If not, then do remember that his semblance has a mental pollution effect so it's not as if he's fully free of it just yet.**

 **Anyways, until next time, everyone. Stay safe!**


	38. Chapter 38

Believe it or not, but this will be a short AN, ha ha. Honestly, not much new in life thanks to the ongoing quarantine other than just using it to catch up on much needed sleep. Hope the rest of you can claim something similar and are still safe out there.

And as for this fic, it will soon really be going off the rails. Look forward to it!

P.S. Recently, I watched PB Horror Gaming's playthrough of both Condemned games… and now I've this idea for a crossover fic between Condemned and Outlast of all things! What do you guys think? Should I go for it in the future?

Chapter 38

It was a true testament to what the body can be capable of as Jaune's own body essentially walked itself from the headmaster's office back to his dorm and without any issue at that too. Such was just how completely and utterly overwhelmed the blond was currently feeling.

It took him a solid several minutes of just sitting there on his bed to fully process what had been told to him, a time he came to feel most grateful for as he regained his mental faculties; had his team made it back, they would've no doubt been worried over his psychological state just moments ago.

And now that he was finally able to not act like some kind of robot, he began to earnestly ponder over what the headmaster had been generous enough to tell him.

For instance, that Salem was an ancient being that controlled the Grimm.

Much like everyone else, he'd grown up under the belief that the Grimm were creatures of darkness that acted on pure instinct, like animals only ones whose animosity was dedicated entirely to humankind. To now know that someone could and is directing them… that changed everything.

Just how long had this Salem been around? Had she always been able to control the Grimm? At what specific times had she asserted her control over the Grimm to attack others? These were but a few of the now many questions he had about this woman… questions that he really should've asked the headmaster.

Jaune grimaced, disappointed in himself. Granted, it's not everyday a bombshell of such a magnitude gets dropped on anyone much less him, but he should've pressed harder for additional details.

That said, to know as well now that the headmaster along with a select few others were doing what they could to combat this Salem's machinations… that was great to know. It was quite relieving, actually.

…

…

…But-.

"-But just what else is being hidden here?" Jaune mumbled to himself.

Suddenly feeling more energized than ever, he stood up and began to pace the dorm room slowly but relentlessly.

Now that his mind was working at hyper speeds, the questions were just flowing one after another at the moment.

Just what was Salem's ultimate goal? If she could command the Grimm, then what need, if any, did she have of human subordinates back then and now? For that matter, what even was Salem other than 'an ancient being that commands the Grimm?'

And on the flip side of things… just how long exactly has the headmaster been doing this, combatting Salem? How has he been doing so? Given just how old he implied Salem to be, then just what had been keeping this Grimm leader in check prior to headmaster Ozpin coming around? On a related note, how did the headmaster come to learn of Salem's existence in the first place?

And most importantly to the blond…

…What measures was the headmaster taking now to keep the peace?

And at that question, Jaune's pacing slowed significantly as he dwelled on it.

Given just how many things have happened since the start of the school year, Jaune had to wonder now if Salem had had a hand in all this. And if so, how did she accomplish it? Given that the man he'd fought twice now – Hazel – had all but come out and say he and others were working with Salem, it would seem Salem's own circle of subordinates were at work here… and with that in mind, a whole new slew of questions filtered through the blond teen's increasingly quick working mind.

How many people were under Salem's direct control right now? What sort of skills or abilities did they possess? What resources do they have access to that would allow Salem to order operations like what had happened recently and have them be viable in the first place?

And then… there was Hazel himself too, Jaune thought.

How had that man come to meet Salem? Was Salem so powerful a being that even that man had been left with no choice but to submit himself to her? Or had she offered him something in return for his services? But most importantly… the apparent ability he'd demonstrated back in Sol to command some Grimm as well… was that Salem's doing too? If so, did that mean her other subordinates possessed some level of sovereignty among the Grimm?

At that, Jaune actually shivered – though most people nowadays regarded Grimm as something akin to a large pest problem due to the protection the kingdom walls and security provided, as the Breach and this previous incident had shown, the Grimm were still very much a powerful force of nature. All it took was for any settlement, be it a small village or one of the kingdoms themselves, to let down their guard once for Grimm to gather in swarms and overrun them. And if enough Grimm gathered, then it didn't matter how strong any one individual was or what sort of weapons they may have at hand – given enough time, they'll run out of bullets and wear themselves down enough for the sheer numbers to crush them and that's assuming none of the more powerful and generally dangerous Grimm didn't just pop out of nowhere to join the assault.

Naturally, this applied to him too, though at the risk of sounding arrogant, Jaune was fairly sure that in such a situation, he would last a little longer than most others. And of course, if it meant others got to live, then he'd go down swinging to the very end and beyond.

But he was digressing here.

To get back on track, the Grimm alone were a constant threat kept in check only by whatever defenses the kingdoms and all other settlements can come up with. But the older and thus the smarter and stronger Grimm can easily circumvent some of these measures through either surprising displays of cunning or just pure size and power… but if there's an actual intelligence guiding their actions? Directing them to any defense's weakest points or telling them to target certain individuals to lower humanity's morale and fighting chances? Such a thing was truly the stuff of nightmares.

"…With all this in mind, just how has Salem not won yet?" Jaune was now perplexed.

He had every bit of faith in humanity's potential for great things. Certainly, they were all flawed – and he was no exception, of course – but for all these flaws, both as a species and on an individual level, there was still the innate capability to accomplish things that were the very definition of amazing.

However, for all his faith, it was not blind faith.

The Grimm vastly outnumbered humanity. There was damn good reason as to why there existed only four kingdoms, all of which occupied only a relatively small part of the continents they resided on. Sure, there were plenty of villages and towns out there on the frontier, but they were far and in between, the Grimm and other dangers the world naturally provided making such places a bit too dangerous for most people to consider making a living out there.

Even with the gift of aura and the power of semblances and whatever advantages technology could afford humanity, if every Grimm on the planet was to get whipped up into a frenzy and just rushed every pocket of humanity they could find, humanity wouldn't last long at all.

Surely, Salem knew this. Depending on how exactly her control over the Grimm worked – presumably like how Hazel's seemingly worked, just to a far greater extent – then it shouldn't be that hard for her to just command some Grimm to seek out a few towns and then order every other Grimm within a hundred miles to swarm those locations. Then rinse, lather, and repeat and before long, even the kingdoms would fall to such a basic tactic…

…Which again raises the question of how Salem has yet to crush humanity. Even if wiping out humanity wasn't one of her goals, cowing humanity into servitude for the most part would be just as easy for her to have accomplished long ago.

…

…

…Thing's aren't adding up, he realized with a sense of finality, and it was this feeling that got him to truly stop pacing and narrow his eyes.

"Just what else are you hiding, headmaster?" he murmured as he blankly stared around his dorm.

He'd gone into that meeting knowing full well he wasn't going to be told everything. That the man had acquiesced enough to tell him of Salem in the first place was a genuine triumph. But in doing so, it raised a lot of questions about the holes in the brief tale the headmaster had told him.

What he'd just learned about Salem and how Hazel and others were working for her… it was all but one part of a puzzle. A big part, to be fair, but far from an all-encompassing thing.

There was more to learn, so much more…

…And Jaune now fully intended to delve deeper into this unfathomable mystery.

While it certainly said something about the headmaster for being able to hold Salem at bay for this long by himself and whatever few allies he had in this shadow war, it was with a great deal of hindsight that recent events were clearly pushing the headmaster and the others to their limits. There's no telling how much longer they may be able to keep Salem and her agents of chaos at bay before they finally slip up. Naturally, this wouldn't do.

Jaune felt it was time to change things up a bit.

Now, was it arrogant of him to think he must be the one to do so? To think that he should and could make a difference in this shadow war? Oh yes, it most certainly was arrogant of him.

But now more than ever, he felt a sense of clarity. He wouldn't go as far as to say this was to be the true purpose of his life or whatever, but as someone who needed and _wanted_ to help others and smite 'evil,' this was perhaps the single greatest obstacle he now faced.

And besides, he thought in good but subdued humor, who else hasn't dreamed of taking on what was essentially a demon king or whatever?

However.

He wouldn't be doing this alone. Oh no, recent experiences have shown him how much he'd been missing out on things, how different things could now be for him thanks to this newfound clarity of his…

Thus, when his team returned, he vowed to tell them of what he'd learned.

The headmaster may have obviously wanted him to keep this knowledge about Salem to himself, but his team as well as team RWBY had already been just a bit more involved than others in these incidents. Thus, it was only natural that he'd share this knowledge with them. He trusted them to not let this news leak out to others, of course. That would be where the line would be drawn for now.

And so, he now eagerly awaited his team's return from their current assignment, all the while beginning to plan out what could be done next.

There was much to do and he fully intended to make the most of however much info he can potentially get next.

* * *

Several days go by. During this time, Vale returned ever steadily towards normal, except not really. As businesses had no choice but to fully reopen to make money like before and the like, people began to really get back into the swing of things, but it was with an unspoken sense of trepidation.

It went without saying that they feared whatever would come next. So great was this was fear that even the career criminals seemed to have gone further underground for the time being, no doubt worried that whatever they end up doing next could trigger another Breach.

Hazel found no amusement in this observation of his. If anything, it irritated him somewhat.

And not without reason.

"Hazel… You've that look about you again," Watts pointed out from nearby.

In response, the man could only grunt as he folded his arms over his chest. "It's… getting harder to ignore…" he quietly commented.

Ever since his second battle with Jaune Arc, the behemoth of a man had undergone a series of changes, even long after the effects of his Dust injection have worn off… or rather, _should_ have worn off.

It was slight, but if one looked closely enough, there was an occasional crack of lightning that danced along his forearms as his muscles tensed and his mind became a bit more unfocused thanks to yet another change that had struck him.

For some reason, he's started to exhibit the ability to pick up emotions themselves. Not to any exceptionally great extent, but it hadn't taken him long at all to notice he could literally feel the anxiety and outright fear many civilians were feeling nowadays.

And Hazel was all too quick to note the slew of other emotions he could apparently pick up on – anger, jealousy, genuine hatred, doubt… in other words, negative emotions.

Something that only the Grimm should be able to sense.

And considering how some time prior to his first battle with Jaune Arc, he'd started to gain the ability to command Grimm to some extent, Hazel was certain that somehow his own Dust injections were to blame for these changes in him.

That he seemingly possessed some of the abilities his Dust injections normally granted him even now, albeit to far lesser extents, only added to this certainty of his.

Naturally, this was something that hadn't gone unnoticed by Watts. And the man had not bothered hiding his fascination in these changes.

"Hmm…" Watts couldn't help but look him over intently. "To think such things would be happening to you… truly, it boggles the mind."

Hazel could only grunt in annoyance. "Unless you've a proper diagnosis for me, I'd suggest not dreaming of turning me into a lab rat."

The former scientist held up his hands in a placating manner and chuckled quietly. "My apologies. I imagine these changes would be worrisome for you. Still, it is a point of immense interest for me."

"I've noticed." Hazel's tone was as dry as could be, making his distaste for this situation known.

"Come now, are such changes truly a bad thing?" Watts asked from where he sat. "Is it not most fortunate that your power still grows? It could potentially make killing Jaune Arc much easier when you two next clash."

"…Possibly." Hazel sighed. He then raised a hand and clenched it into a tight fist. As he did so, sparks of lightning briefly coated it before disappearing. He could feel it – unbridled power steadily filling his entire being.

Watts hadn't been kidding when he'd said his power was still growing just now – even though he was simply standing around, Hazel's very being was shifting in some way, his aura reserves growing and his body's bones and muscular structure also changing in some ways that he couldn't identify. But he could tell that his power was growing quite literally by the minute…

…Except, he could hardly feel happy over this. The sudden influx of negativity aside, the simple fact that he was changing into… into something was far from a pleasant sensation.

But more than that, he was absolutely certain that when next he and Jaune Arc met, the boy would also be stronger than before.

Strong enough to still clash evenly with him? Most likely. And that thought irked Hazel the most. Their previous battle just days ago… Hazel couldn't help but feel as if he'd lost the clash between their ideals and wills. Yes, Jaune Arc had certainly won on that front… and by simple virtue of the fact that near the end of the battle, the boy had changed in some way.

…He was breaking free of his semblance's influence, shrugging off the shackles of slavery. And once he fully accomplished that…

…Then what would happen? That was the question suddenly on Hazel's mind. If the boy did fully cease being a slave, then in what ways would the boy change? Would those changes finally prove to be his undoing?

Would their next clash finally mean the death of one of them?

As much as Hazel intended for that to be the case, he was now uncertain as to which of them would the one to die.

…

Hazel sighed and unclenched his fist. Now was not the time to be dwelling on that matter. Whatever happens in the next battle will happen. All he can do is just do what he can when that time comes.

"Well? Find anything of note?" Hazel asked as he switched topics.

Watts obviously knew that, but gracefully obliged the sudden segue. "Not necessarily of note to us, but interesting nonetheless," he replied with a shrug before swiveling around his chair to look back at the monitor before him.

In the immediate aftermath of city hall's collapse, Watts had requested of Hazel to go and kill Adam Taurus and the rest of the man's forces. Hazel had done just that; Adam Taurus and his particular brand of escalating terrorism were no more.

Personally, Hazel had been ambivalent about it all – whether Adam Taurus had lived another day to plan yet another attack or not, it wouldn't have mattered once Salem herself made a move. However, Watts hadn't been too keen on the possibility of the now deceased Faunus serving as a hindrance, hence his request.

In any case, it was over and done with and not long after that, Watts had traced Adam Taurus' tracks back to his cell's base, where the two of them had then gone to raid, bringing back to their own base any and all files they could get their hands on.

Again, this was something Hazel hadn't cared much for, especially with the bull Faunus little more than ashes now, but Watts had wished to see what information Adam Taurus' cell had managed to get its hands on.

Judging by Watts' tone, it seemed it really hadn't amounted to much in the end.

"Just what had you been hoping for?" Hazel asked as he approached to look for himself. "A way to get back at Atlas?"

That was the only thing that made sense to the man. The mere idea of any White Fang cell possessing information that could prove useful to Salem's plans was completely ludicrous. It made more sense that the terrorist organization would instead have info on Atlas given the animosity between the two thanks to the SDC as well as the simple fact that most people within Atlas' wealthier populace were racists, a result of them typically lumping the poorer classes and Faunus together.

"More or less," Watts freely admitted as he tapped away at options on the monitor itself. "Though I've already have my own plans for my former home, it never hurts to see if anything could be used to better adjust my plans."

That the man could admit to such a thing spoke of how self-aware he was about his own pettiness, Hazel thought in mild amazement.

"Given the obvious grudge the White Fang has towards Atlas as a whole, especially Taurus himself, I'd have expected them to keep tabs on everything the Atlas military was up to. In light of the fact that the White Fang had actually managed to get their hands on a paladin prototype, I admitted to having high hopes…" Watts continued. "…And to some extent, it would seem my hopes weren't misplaced."

As he said that, the former scientist tapped on a certain file and out popped a number of photos. Hazel immediately recognized the battleships in them as the ones that'd been surrounding Beacon.

"I see they've been studying Ironwood's fleet," the large man remarked.

"Indeed. I don't know if this was something initiated by Cinder during her partnership with Taurus or if the man himself had taken the initiative, but had things not gone so terribly wrong for them, it would seem Taurus had planned to take the fight to Ironwood himself aboard his flagship."

At that, Hazel quirked an eyebrow. He was finding himself quite intrigued by all this, if only to take his mind off the negativity he could still vaguely sense. "Was it not a part of Cinder's initial plan to take control of Ironwood's fleet and robots to further add to the chaos?"

"That's true, but according to these files, it would appear that Taurus had eventually been planning to take out the entire fleet outright… such a foolhardy goal for one of such meager ability." Watts shook his head. He clearly didn't think much of the deceased Faunus. "Still, the more I look this over, the more I find myself feeling fortunate. This may prove useful after all."

The smirk just barely visible under that mustache of his was truly devilish.

Hazel could only grunt as he came to a conclusion. "Then, you mean to say…"

"…That it's time for me to finally claim what is rightfully mine," Watts finished for him as he turned around to face him. "You know well by now that I want back what I'd made. And Ironwood, fool that he is, decided to take my greatest invention and turn it into a mere _battery_ for his own damned flagship! I'd long since wished to take it back and have planned for such, but now thanks to Taurus' notes on the fleet, getting aboard and obtaining the prototype may be even easier than I'd initially expected."

Watts now got up and Hazel stepped aside, giving the man enough room to pace about. The former scientist was looking positively giddy. No, that wasn't quite right… it would be more correct to say that the man looked almost… almost like someone who was on the cusp of regaining their greatest treasure, as if the mere thought of reuniting with it was making him whole again.

Watts had made it clear to Hazel during their journey to Vale just how much this prototype meant to him, but Hazel hadn't expected the man to desire having it back this much. It was honestly disconcerting.

But it was not his place to judge his ally's motivations nor the sheer extent Watts was clearly willing to go to get this back. After all, had he himself not fully committed himself to his current path for the sake of revenge?

"Then just when will you be making your own move?" This was the only thing Hazel could think to ask at the moment and with reason.

It went without saying that in light of recent events, everyone was on edge. This went triply so for Ironwood and the entirety of the fleet he'd brought with him to Vale. Even with whatever note Taurus had gathered, Hazel couldn't imagine the man being able to so easily get in and out with what he desired.

But at the same time, if he held off on this for too long then Salem herself will make her move and trying to get aboard the flagship to obtain the prototype would be a huge risk since it wouldn't be as if Salem would leave the flagship alone during her assault. Watts would be risking his own death as well as the destruction of this prototype during such an event. And of course, going for it after Salem's assault would hardly be wise since it would likely be destroyed by then.

Of course, Watts knew this.

"I'm aware of what you're getting at," the scientist said as he reined himself in. "That said, I will be making my move some time tomorrow."

Hazel quirked another eyebrow. "I understand your reasoning for why, but is that smart? Security will be far tighter than ever before in light of Taurus' attack."

At that, Watts held up his hand, the one which bore the rings he always used. "I'm also well aware of that. But no matter how alert the Atlas forces are, no matter how much they've updated their security systems, it'll still be nothing before me."

"You're still just one man," Hazel pointed out. "If you slip up even once, that's it. While I don't doubt your skill, you've no chance of escaping every soldier."

What he said was very much true. Watts was not by any means a defenseless scientist; he obviously had his aura unlocked long ago and has received some training in close quarters combat as well as possessing a revolver that in turn held more than enough firepower to put down any mere soldier.

However, fighting was still not his forte. His aura reserves were certainly higher than most people, but several solid hits would be all it'd take to drain him entirely and his personal combat skills would not let him stand a chance at all against fully fledged huntsmen. Even a trainee in around their third to fourth year of training at some place like Beacon would outskill him. And of course, as his revolver was his sole weapon, he was severely lacking in combat options.

Sure, those rings of his and the capabilities they possess would give him a major tactical advantage, but that was entirely dependent on where he could end up getting boxed in at.

If Watts took offense to this succinct comeback, however, the man didn't show it. Instead, he actually chuckled. "I know my limits, Hazel," he said as he placed his hands behind his back and began pacing again. "But I'm not afraid to push said limits if it means getting back my prototype. And once I do, well… while I'd never dare claim to be ever near your level, I would certainly become an existence beyond what any huntsman could be capable of dealing with."

Seeing that his warnings weren't going to stop Watts at all, Hazel could only accept the man's resolve. "…Very well. So long as you know not to get too carried away. With Cinder captured, the last thing we need is another of us being taken down, much less you."

It went without saying in the immediate aftermath of Taurus' attack that Cinder's own plan to get to the Fall Maiden had failed. The mere fact that her scroll could no longer be pinged was more than enough, for the signal it emitted could have only been halted if the scroll itself was broken… and that could only be done intentionally. In other words, unless struck with enough force, the scroll would still function.

There'd been no doubt about it – Cinder had encountered resistance, failed to overcome it, and had been subsequently captured.

"Oh, I assure you, I've no intention to end up like our 'dear' Cinder," Watts replied. He huffed at the mere mention of her name. "It'd been clear from the start she would fail for sure. This merely confirms what we'd all expected from the start. Oh well, at the very least she will hold out for as long as she could under whatever punishment Ozpin's side will inflict on her, if only out of that pathetic and delusional pride of hers. Even if she does give in, it's not as if she ever knew enough about Salem's long-term plans to matter much."

Personally, Hazel had always been rather indifferent towards the young woman and so in light of Watts' words, he could only shrug lightly in agreement. Cinder had thought herself capable enough of succeeding and she'd been proven wrong. That is all that mattered.

"Then, if that's everything, I will be stepping out for a while," Hazel said, once again switching topics a bit. "The negativity… it's getting tiresome to deal with."

Watts hummed. "I could only imagine how it must feel like… very well. This gives me time to modify my rings a bit in preparation of tomorrow."

Nodding, Hazel gently brushed past Watts and left their little base. As he did so, he wasted no time making his way as far as he could away from Vale.

Honestly, he lost track of time as he traveled, but before he knew it, he'd snuck his out past the walls and off into some thick section of a forest where nothing was around.

Coming to a stop, he let loose a long sigh of pure relief as the negativity he'd been sensing finally abated, letting him feel as if he was by himself again.

Truly, humanity was a disgusting race, he thought, if this is how much negativity is produced on a regular basis.

…Perhaps… perhaps the Grimm feel the same way, he wondered.

This was just a random thought, not made with any real attachment of emotion or additional reasoning to it… but now that he'd thought it, Hazel slowly found himself questioning for the very first time in a long time what the Grimm even are… and just how exactly had his Dust injections caused these changes in him.

"Why…?" he murmured as he sat upon a small boulder. He held up his open palms as if seeing them for the first time. "Just why is this happening…?" he asked himself inquisitively, as if hoping answers would suddenly come to him.

But of course, no answers came.

And so, he could only sit there and destress. Even as Grimm slowly sensed and approached him, he paid them no mind, not even when they began to bow before him…

* * *

Not for the first time, Salem found herself standing out on a balcony and staring up at the shattered moon, the celestial object serving as a constant reminder of what had happened all those centuries ago, when her life as a normal human had ended.

It was funny, really. Back then, just the very fact the moon existed in its broken state was enough to fill her with rage. But within the last several or so decades, she's honestly become rather numb to the sight of it.

That's right, she'd grown tired of being angry, amazing as that might sound. Though it wasn't as if anyone was ever around to notice such things about her.

Sighing, she utilized her magic to perform a short-range teleportation, transporting her down to the area directly around the castle, where the pools of destruction were located at.

It was yet again time for her to begin.

She held up her hands and concentrated. As she did so, the several hundred Beringels that had long since perched themselves around this area looked on almost fervently, their massive wings flapping ever so gently in response.

Yes, that's right, wings.

Normally the Beringels had merely been Grimm in the general forms of massive gorillas, but over the past year or so, Salem had seen fit to mold them with wings to increase their general mobility.

They hadn't been the only type of Grimm she'd modified either. All throughout her personal little kingdom, Gryphons could be spotted, the aerial based Grimm sporting greater muscle mass than ever before and their wings possessed feather-like objects in their wings, naturally made of the same bone-like materials as the white portions of their bodies that could be fired as projectiles. Beowulves gracefully ran amok, their bodies leaner as to provide them greater speed and agility and their claws had been thinned and sharpened to razor fine points. Ursas have been provided more bone-like armor around their forms to give additional protection.

These Grimm, basic ones, were far from the only ones modified either. Off within the darkest confines of her castle, there were a small battalion's worth of Apathies, whose bodies have been filled out more to make them tougher and their legs more muscular so that they can actually _sprint_ , all so that they can last longer and ensure the mental effects they produce can spread more before eventually being put down.

Not even the largest of Grimm had been spared from her somewhat creative pursuits, with several Wyverns having been essentially turned into Grimm Dragons, possessing four limbs in addition to two pairs of wings that possessed the same new capabilities the Gryphons possessed.

Salem has done what she could to either cover for some of these Grimms' weaknesses or to further improve upon whatever strengths they naturally possessed. Now, she was simply bolstering their numbers.

And sure enough, as she worked her will upon the pools of destruction, modified Beringels and Beowulves and Ursas slowly sprang forth from them and went off to join their respective groups, though not before bowing to her, their queen.

She kept at this for several long hours, the curse the God Brothers have inflicted her upon proving to be a surprising boon – in additional to being a being of now endless life, her stamina had also become equally endless. She could quite literally keep this up forever, but just because she didn't physically tire didn't mean she still couldn't tire out mentally. Thus, after several hours, she had to stop for a long break.

Showing just the smallest signs of fatigue now – again, all very much mental in nature – she backed away from the pools of destruction and looked around at her handiwork.

She felt no pride as all the Grimm went about their business within this desolate kingdom of hers, where the kingdom she and Ozma had once established so long ago had once proudly stood.

In all honesty, this was hardly the first time she's ever modified the Grimm. In fact, in the very beginning, when her people had walked this planet, only the most basic of Grimm – Beowulves, Ursas, Beringels, other animal-based Grimm – had existed. All the other Grimm, the more fantastical ones like the Wyverns, the Goliaths, Apathies and so on and so forth? Those had come afterwards and through her own hands, having manipulated the pools of destruction as best as she could to essentially give birth to these fantastical Grimm species. Even the Seers that she utilized for communication between herself and her human servants hadn't existed until she made them.

With every new Grimm species she'd made over the centuries, she'd gone on to think that _now_ this second humanity shall finally fall before them… only to keep on going. Oh, her new Grimm had certainly put humanity on the ropes during those times, but humanity, ever so adaptable, would always figure out ways to survive and fight back.

And each and every time she'd tried to command every Grimm across the world to just storm the forming kingdoms and put them down, Ozma via whatever life he'd been living at those times would always find a way to halt such straightforward tactics.

Whether it be through liberal usage of what magic power he still possessed or through commanding the Maidens or utilizing the silver eyed warriors or even using those damned Relics of the gods, her former love had always albeit barely been successful in wiping out the forming Grimm hordes before they could pose too big a threat to humanity.

It honestly hurt her. To know that the very traits she'd once admired and loved in him – resolve, ingenuity, faith in others – would now be what halted her own schemes… it was yet another constant reminder of the past.

It'd also been these very same traits of Ozma's, now Ozpin's, that had ultimately led Salem to hold off on such a straightforward tactic roughly two centuries ago. So long as there was a possibility of him countering it somehow, Salem knew commanding the Grimm to straight out assault the kingdoms would do no good.

Thus, she'd had no choice but to reach out to others and sway them to her side. It hadn't been too hard to do such a thing be it through sheer intimidation or making promises of riches or power to them. And at first, through these agents of hers, she'd been able to throw Ozma off for a while, but he'd been quick to counter her new tactics by doing the same, irritatingly enough.

And so, this was how this shadow war between the two of them had gone, with neither side ever really gaining a true advantage over the other, even with her steadily altering and improving the Grimm and him possessing the Maidens, silver eyed warriors and Relics.

However, in more recent decades, things had started to change with the advent of technology. Granted, technology has always existed in one form or another, but in the past century alone, a paradigm shift had occurred as technology began to advance with increasing speed.

Suddenly, subterfuge, sabotage and more had become truly viable and damaging options thanks to the widespread usage of digital communication and storage and Salem had been all too glad to 'get with the times' as people would apparently say.

And so her current generation of subordinates – Hazel, Tyrian, Watts, Cinder and whatever resources they had at their own disposals – had proven exceptionally useful. While the former two weren't exactly what people would call whizzes when it came to technology, they still had plenty of familiarity with such things and of course, their combat prowess was an exceptional plus, especially in regards to Hazel. As for the latter two, Watts and Cinder were her go-to subordinates for behind the scenes work, especially Watts who'd proven his worth many times over since she'd reached out to him.

It went without saying that the path forward was far from worry-free – as Hazel and Watts had informed her some odd days ago, Cinder's plans had hit a significant wall, to say nothing of Tyrian failing to capture the new Spring Maiden. But these were only minor setbacks. So far, her forces appeared to hold the offensive advantage while Ozpin continued to remain on an ever crumbling defensive.

Oh, she didn't doubt for a second that Ozpin still had at least a few fallback plans to try out, but so long as things progress as she expected them to, not even whatever her former love could still do would stop her this time.

Even if one or two of her subordinates were to fail in their given tasks, so long as the rest succeed, the conquest of Vale and the subsequent capturing of the Relic there will still be guaranteed.

This thought got her to smile as she made her way back inside her castle for now, satisfied with how things were going for now.

Then, as she made her way back to her throne room, she did a little wave with a free hand and in doing so, a Seer promptly appeared and followed after her.

Though she had actual faith in her main subordinates doing what was required of them, there was one she did have less faith in. To be somewhat fair, the man in question truly was a cowardly and weak-willed speck of a fool… though perhaps she'd just gotten too used to be around a certain type of people.

No matter.

It was time to see how Leonardo was coming along in the task she'd assigned him.

And for his sake, he really better not disappoint.

* * *

 **Yeah, sorry for how short this chapter is compared to a lot of the previous ones, but again this is one of those chapters meant to just give quick updates on the situation and expand on the fallout.**

 **So, as you can see, Jaune may be steadily breaking free of his semblance's mental influence, but he's still every bit the laser guided determinator that he was before and that won't be changing. Hell, if anything, well… you guys will eventually see, heh. One thing I can confirm for sure is that he won't be marching to the beat of Ozpin's drum.**

 **As for Hazel, these changes he's going through will play an especially big role later on as will the origin of these changes, so do be on the lookout for that. Feel free to try guessing the backstory to this too, if you want!**

 **And regarding Watts, he'll finally be getting around to going for the object he'd been vaguely mentioning and when that happens, I will naturally be explaining in proper detail what this 'prototype' is and what it can do. Look forward to that!**

 **Lastly, Salem. Yeah, again, with all the Grimm at her disposal, I really don't understand how exactly she'd been thwarted as long as she has been within canon, so the details provided within her section are merely a part of my headcanon being used here to provide a semi-reasonable explanation for why she hasn't won yet in this fic either. Hope you guys find that it makes sense!**

 **Also, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Cinder either - she'll be getting a bit of a spotlight soon too!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!**


	39. Chapter 39

Recently, the Fate Apocrypha event started for the US servers of FGO. Got Achilles with the very first summon ticket I spent, then got Chiron in just a few ten rolls without even meaning to. So, yeah, may have just used up all my luck for the next year or two. Thankfully, Achilles and Chiron were the exact two Servants I'd wanted, so it's not as if this was unwanted on my part, heh.

Now to just hope I can get Sigurd whenever he becomes available… oh boy, I can feel my wallet crying already.

Now, onto the chapter!

 **Quick edit (as of 4/28/20): kept accidentally saying the Relic of Choice was beneath Haven. Fixed it so that it's the Relic of Knowledge as per canon. My bad.**

Chapter 39

Jaune stood stock still with his arms crossed whilst his friends sat around RWBY's dorm.

It's been a few days since his talk with the headmaster and Qrow. The day after that had happened, he'd managed to gather all his friends at Yang's hospital room and after making sure they had no one eavesdropping, he told them all of everything he'd learned, not a single detail left out.

The thought of them not believing him at all, of saying he was full of shit, hadn't even remotely crossed his mind at the time, his faith in them and vice versa being that great. Sure enough, they hadn't accused him of making things up and they'd spent a long while in that hospital room in complete silence as they'd digested the info.

And in the days since then, it's clear they'd still been adjusting to what he'd told them about Salem and the Grimm.

Was it a bit much for them all to be this crazily silent about this? Some people, if they knew of the circumstances, might say yes, but not to Jaune. Much like with him at the time, what he'd had to tell them subverted a lot of what they'd grown up being told was common fact.

And more than that, his friends, for all their potential and resolve, they were still just like any other bunch of teens. World-shaking truths like this would naturally leave them in a deep funk.

But while he wholeheartedly understood and empathized with them, he'd gathered them all here – well, except for Yang, she was still in the hospital but would be released in another day or so – with the intent of seeing how they were doing.

He'd just asked as much and was now awaiting a reply.

And after a minute of waiting, a reply did come.

"W-Well," Ruby began, trying to smile and succeeding somewhat. "It's just a lot to take in, you know? I mean, we're basically talking about a demon king, like in fantasy games! Only this one is real… and is likely responsible for who knows how many Grimm attacks over all this time…"

Jaune could only nod. "I know," he replied softly. "But… I'm sure you can guess what else I'm going to ask about."

It was his partner that answered this particular question. "Do… do you intend to get involved in this, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked with more than a little bit of disbelief.

"I think the better way of putting it would be getting _more_ involved," he gently corrected. "Remember, that guy – Hazel – works for Salem. And he's made it clear to me that he wants me dead. Whether I do anything or not, it's only a matter of time until he comes for me again. And as he's demonstrated in both Sol and recently in Vale, he doesn't care much for who or what may get in the way."

"True as that is, you're out of your mind…" It was Weiss who said this, the SDC heiress sitting on her bed next to her partner. "Though I would never turn down the opportunity to do some good, we're talking about something above and beyond the norm for trainees and even fully fledged huntsmen! We're talking about a literal immortal with all the Grimm at her command and with people – humans like you and me – willingly doing her bidding! It's madness!"

And that really was a good point. Once again, as talented as his friends are, that didn't mean they must necessarily be the ones to charge in and solve every situation. They were all still too green, too inexperienced. Even Jaune himself was only a little better thanks to his experiences on the frontier and his semblance.

But even so…

"…If nothing at all is done, Salem will win," he said in a firm tone, grabbing everyone's attention. He sighed before continuing. "…I don't know what exactly her ultimate plan is or anything – the headmaster didn't tell me and there wasn't any info to work with there on that front to start with… but whatever she has planned, it goes without saying it won't be good for humanity as a whole. And as recent events have shown, the headmaster and whoever else is working with him are being put on the backfoot. That I was able to blindside him well enough to get this much information out of him says enough – he's slowly grasping for straws."

"But surely there's a chance he could turn this around," Ren quietly said.

"Plus, he's got uncle Qrow on his side!" Ruby brought up before turning away. "I still can't believe he knows about this too."

At that, Jaune quirked an eyebrow before staring at his fellow leader in worry.

When he'd first told them all about this, Ruby and Yang had been quick to say that this Qrow was actually their uncle. Apparently, he'd stopped by to check in on them too, not so long before Jaune had explained this all to them too, making it a case of missing out the perfect chance to question the huntsman about this.

Since then, their uncle hadn't swung by, presumably already back out in the field on the headmaster's orders. Jaune wasn't too sure if that was a good thing or not because it seemed like Ruby and Yang had a fair few questions they'd love to beg their uncle to answer, questions that they've yet to tell him or anyone else about.

He hoped he hadn't gone and put a strain on the girls' relationship with Qrow. Unfortunately, whatever was done was done. There was no going back here.

"…Maybe," he finally said, answering Ren's question. "But whatever it is he plans to do next, it doesn't seem to be something he's much confidence in. You guys didn't get to see him – he looked genuinely exhausted. He did a good job looking calm, but that's about it. He didn't project the same level of energy or control like he used to. Things are getting to him now, more than ever before. I don't doubt his ability to make a comeback but putting all our faith in this possibility whilst doing nothing when we could at least try to do something doesn't sit well with me."

"Then just what exactly do you want to do?" Blake asked from where she stood, standing right across from him on the other side of the room. Out of everyone here, the B of RWBY looked perhaps the most in control of herself. That isn't to say she was taking all this in stride, but as she looked at him and he met her gaze, there was a certain level of trust there in her eyes that most wouldn't have.

With perhaps the exception of Pyrrha, Blake was quite likely the one person who trusted him the most in this situation right now.

And he intended to live up to that trust.

"For one thing, I intend to get a new sword," he began as he patted the hilt of his blade that still hung by his side. "Using just the one sword after the other broke had proven educational, but in order to really get back into the groove of things, I need to replace the sword that was broken. I'd already put in a request to a local blacksmith and paid for the materials. It should be ready soon."

He now moved forward a bit, his brief stride full of determination. "Then, it's my goal to try and track down Hazel… and finish this… this feud between us once and for all. Doing that will most likely deprive Salem of a very powerful asset."

"How do you plan to track him down?" Blake then asked.

"In all likelihood, he's somewhere in Vale," Jaune answered with confidence. "This may sound odd, but the… the vibe. It feels so terribly off. Can't you all feel it too? A storm brewing, cliché as that sounds? Whatever plan Salem currently has in motion is likely nearing its ending phase. Hazel is no doubt a big part of the plan, so having him retreat from Vale entirely and then coming back later would just be a waste of time. And considering the oddities of comms and the cameras going down during the White Fang's attack on city hall, it's also likely that she has a hacker on her side too; it felt far too coordinated to be some random chance. And like with Hazel, that hacker is most likely somewhere within Vale. And now that I've a feel for Hazel's movements and character, tracking him shouldn't prove impossible."

"So then," Pyrrha now spoke as she followed along with his logic. "You intend to track down Hazel, fight him… and end him. And presumably, if you can track him back to wherever he may be, you'll likely find the hacker too."

"That's right," he answered. "Do that, and two of Salem's presumably greatest assets are taken out of the picture in one go. They're clearly meant to stir up discord and negativity within the kingdom, so taking them down should at least slowdown that bit."

"But if she can control the Grimm, what's stopping her from just having them swarm the kingdom's walls?" Weiss then asked as she folded her arms over her chest, huffing as she spoke.

"For that, I've no real answer," Jaune openly admitted. "I'm assuming the headmaster has some kind of measure that's been preventing an all-out Grimm assault from happening. Maybe negativity levels have something to do with it. Who knows. But if putting a stop to this building negativity can prevent that, then I'm not going to just hang back."

"You really think doing that will work, Jaune?" Ruby asked. Her expression indicated that she was steadily investing herself in doing this alongside him.

"Not to sound overconfident, but yeah, I think it will work," he answered with a small smile. He raised his right hand a little and made a tight fist. "Honestly, I can't say for certain that doing this will put a stop to everything… but even the smallest of accomplishments can eventually add up to something great. If we can slow down Salem, buy some time for a proper counterattack to be conceived… then this is as good as things will get."

He opened his hand and lowered it, looking back up to eye his friends one by one. "So, what do you say? Are you with me?"

Just like that, he was making it clear that he was going to do this no matter what. What he was asking right now is if they would join him in doing this too. He didn't simply only one or two of them, but all of them.

There was a long minute of silence.

And then, it was broken.

Nora, ever so lively, pumped a fist and practically cackled. "Well, it's not every day we can stick it to a real-life demon king, right? I'm all for it, fearless leader!"

Ren chuckled quietly. "Guess that means my own decision just got taken from me," he quipped.

"Damn right, Renny! Thick as thieves for life, us two!" Nora exclaimed as she slung an arm around her partner and shook him. He just rolled his eyes, but was smiling nonetheless.

"Well, it certainly wouldn't do to leave my partner go it alone," Pyrrha then said, also smiling but there was no mistaking the determination in her eyes. "I wanted to become a huntress for the sake of protecting the world. This feeling is clearly going to end up fulfilled a lot earlier than I'd thought it would be… but life is often like that, throwing things at us all when we least expect it. All we can do is just rise to the challenge… and I would be honored to meet this challenge alongside you, Jaune."

The blond smiled, his team being the first to officially join him on this self-imposed quest. He then turned to the three members of RWBY and awaited their answers.

And to his lack of surprise, Blake was the first to respond. "All my life, I'd dreamed of making the world a better place. At first, I thought to do that was through the White Fang, except I'd only ever been focusing on making things right for Faunus and Faunus alone. But now? I want to make the world a better place for _everyone_. I'd been too narrowminded and full of anger back then. After all that's happened since I left the White Fang… now more than ever is the time to truly do the right thing. Count me in." She smiled at him. "Of course, I'm sure that went without saying, anyways."

"A little bit," Jaune quipped, smiling in return. "But thank you, Blake."

"Then I'm definitely joining!" Ruby said next, pumping her fists energetically. "There's a lot of questions I got now that I need answers for… and I mean a lot, especially from uncle Qrow. If doing this will get me some answers, then I'm all for it! Besides… doing the right thing is just what huntresses do!"

The young leader then whirled around on the bed and faced her partner. "How about you, Weiss?!"

"H-Hey! Don't shake me!" Weiss complained as the younger girl quite literally shook her in seeming desperation. After breaking free of Ruby's weak grip, she composed herself before actually replying. "If you all are really this intent on joining this craziness… then I guess it's up to me to make sure you don't get in too far over your heads."

Nora loudly snorted. "Come on, Weiss-cream, be honest with us!"

Weiss rolled her eyes but did adopt a much more serious expression. "I will admit that at the very start of all this, I'd come into this being too rigid… too focused on personal goals. But my time with you lot… well, it's changed me." She blushed in embarrassment but there was genuine gratitude in her expression too. "…Like the rest of you, I too wish to do the right thing, not simply for me but for others. Of course, taking down a threat against the entire kingdom counts as doing the right thing."

Ruby cheered and hugged her partner, who just sighed and returned the hug. "Of course, that doesn't mean we should go charging into this in a suicidal fashion – if things do seem to reach that point, I reserve the right to order a retreat for our own good."

They all laughed lightly. "The honor will be all yours," Jaune replied with a chuckle. He paused. Then… "Do you think Yang wil-?"

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all snorted. "Oh yeah, she'll definitely join in," Ruby immediately said. "My sister isn't going to be scared just because of some immortal woman thingie."

"Mm, as much of a wake-up call as this recent incident had been for her, Yang is still very much the same stubborn brute," Weiss quipped. "She'll no doubt be restless by now to punch some bad guys in the face."

"And may the gods help them if they damage her hair in the process too," Blake added with a quiet laugh.

"Ah, but don't worry!" Ruby suddenly added as she looked to Jaune. "We'll still ask her later to make sure and stuff!"

"…Thank you," he said. "Really."

Ruby's smile was positively blinding. "Hey, we're friends, right? Friends are always there for each other, no matter what!"

Always there… that's right, he thought. All that time out on the frontier, he'd been all by himself. But ever since coming to Beacon, these people have been by his side most of the time, suffering through the same trials and dealing with his 'oddities' all the while too.

They're his friends and they'll see this through to the end.

As the lot of them now began to act much more like themselves after days of tense silence, Jaune found himself enjoying this time more than ever before.

It wouldn't last for much longer, he realized given just how severe the situation appeared to be, but that meant he should just cherish this time that much more.

And so, he did just that.

* * *

Within a special holding cell aboard Ironwood's personal flagship, Cinder Fall lied upon the bed it had. Said bed was surprisingly soft, comforting even, which made it the only thing worth noting about this place.

It's been days since her plan had been horribly thwarted… and by Ozpin himself of all people.

She'd been briefed extensively about the man's true history by Salem, of the many lives he's lived, of the dwindling magic power he held. She'd been told of all the times Ozpin had managed to pull a fast one and push back Salem and her forces time and time again.

Even with that prior knowledge, Cinder ended up underestimating him. With how Amber was able to freely travel the lands, she'd assumed him to be losing his touch over the ages, especially with how little he and his own cohorts had seemingly been doing over the more recent years. It'd all seemed to her as if the infamous wizard, dare she say somewhat feared by Salem herself, had finally hit rock bottom.

Oh how wrong she'd been.

She and her two subordinates had stood no chance against him. Even if she'd been able to kill Amber and fully obtain the Fall Maiden power, the woman doubted how much good that might have done her… probably not enough. He'd been relentless and hadn't hesitated to get dirty. He'd even managed to get around Emerald's semblance somehow… that'd been a first.

And as if to further shatter the image she'd had of him, she'd assumed that after being captured the man would be too soft to push his interrogation of her too far… yet another assumption she'd been proven wrong about.

Pain was by no means a stranger to her, but the forcefulness of the beatings dished out to her by Ironwood and even a little by Ozpin himself over the past few days with an increasing intensity was testing her discipline.

Whatever information she had about Salem's current plans was naturally highly prized by the man and his allies, now more than ever in light of Adam Taurus' clearly failed attack, for all the measly good it'd done.

That her cell was oddly comfortable complete with plain looking but otherwise tasty meals served as an odd contrast with the harshness of their questions. A way of trying to screw with her mind? Oh, most definitely.

But it would not work, she thought, seething as she unconsciously rubbed at the eyepatch she'd been given. Her left eye had been crushed by Ozpin himself during their 'battle' and the black eyepatch, which contrasted heavily with the plain white prison garments given to her, served as a constant reminder of her screw up, made all the more perpetual by how needlessly clean the cell was, the somewhat reflective properties of the walls, floor and ceiling making it so that she would always see herself unless she closed her remaining eye.

Truly, this was a humiliation greater than anything she's experienced before… and in light of her past, that was saying something.

No matter. They will not break her. She will not give them the satisfaction of that. Even if that meant her rotting away in prison for the rest of her life or being put to death outright, she wouldn't let them win.

Of course, that didn't mean she was just going to continue being their punching bag here – even now, in the midst of her physical aching and nigh-uncontrollable rage, she was watching every little thing, thinking it all over.

So far, there's yet to be a gap in their security – whenever out of her cell, she had cuffs on her arms and legs that were tough enough to easily withstand the heat of her flames and every hallway in this damned place was monitored by cameras and patrolled by soldiers. But she knew that no security was ever perfect. Ironically, her cell and the room where Ironwood and Ozpin conducted their 'talks' with her were the only rooms she's been in so far that have no cameras, though that wasn't saying much. The walls here were exceptionally thick and made from pure metal. Using the half of the Maiden power she had to melt her way through them wouldn't be impossible, but it'd be far too noticeable and too slow to pull off.

That wasn't even getting into all the soldiers and other workers aboard this damned ship just to keep it running too… but even so, Cinder refused to be done in. She hadn't come this far in life just to be trampled upon into nothing now.

It would just take a bit of time to think of a way out of this situation… time she may not have, but it wasn't as if she had anything else to do.

However, her primary concern now… was what Salem intended to do. Oh, that immortal woman may have taken her in, treated her as something akin to a daughter in many respects, but there was no mistaking that Salem really only viewed her as a pawn that was just more useful than the average one. With her failure to obtain the Fall Maiden power and subsequently obtaining the Relic, to say nothing of failing to paving the way for the magic user here in Vale, Cinder highly doubted she would still be viewed in a favorable light by her mentor.

If Salem decided she no longer had any use for her… that, more than whatever Ozpin could do to her, is what scared her. For the ruler of the Grimm can be as violent and cruel as she could be patient and understanding. And her many centuries of life had given her more than enough time to learn how to be creative.

…

…

…?

"Hmm?" Cinder's sole eye narrowed. Something felt amiss.

Steadily rising off her bed, she headed for the door and looked through the small opening it had near head level. It was too quiet out there, she realized. And though only barely, she could see one of the two cameras this hallway possessed… and it was pointing downwards now, as if it were…

Suddenly, she grimaced as she detected movement and she immediately backed up.

A minute later, someone stopped right outside her cell… and she wasn't happy to see who it was.

"Oho. Looks like James does know how to provide for his 'guests' to some extent," spoke a haughtier than usual Watts, the former Atlas scientist leering arrogantly at her through the opening.

Cinder tried not to make any sudden movements lest she end up aggravating the injuries she still had. "Watts… how very kind of you to pay me a visit. And here I'd thought you and Hazel would go and forget about me."

Watts quietly snorted. "Hardly," he quipped before then clinically looking her up and down. "Hmm, well, your luxurious little cell aside, it would seem the good general isn't quite so gentle with women."

His snarky way of putting it aside, Watts was essentially right; the many 'talks' she'd ended up having with Ironwood and Ozpin have really taken a toll on her. With her aura kept at extremely low levels at all time, the bruises and cuts and more that have resulted from the beatings have gone untreated with only the worst of the injuries suffered having been properly tended to by some medical staff aboard this flagship in addition to Cinder having no choice but to use what little aura she had at any time to speed up the recovery.

Honestly, it was a good thing indeed that magic was separate from aura or else she'd truly be in trouble here. But she was digressing…

"…Just what are you doing here?" Cinder asked quietly. "How did you even get aboard unseen?"

"Do you not remember that I was once part of Atlas' R&D? Did you really believe their systems would be able to keep me out?" Watts started with a growing smirk. "Well, my own skill aside, Adam Taurus' notes did help a fair bit – he'd been charting out flight paths that personal aircraft could take to flank Atlas' fleet. Combined with my technical skills, going undetected by their radars was truly effortless… a real pity the fool will never get the chance to mimic this feat."

Cinder narrowed her eyes. That wording… looks like that bloodthirsty Faunus had died. Cinder would hardly say that was a sad thing, but it did mean there was yet one less pawn she had at her disposal again.

Damn it all.

…She didn't like this. Not one bit. There's no way Watts came all this way solely for her – he was here for something else. And there was also very little chance that Salem had ordered him to rescue her.

Though her posture remained lax to avoid putting any unnecessary strain on her tender wounds, Cinder was ready to call upon the portion of the Maiden power she possessed. If Watts tried anything, she could get off a quick enough fire blast that'll catch him right in the face. Even with aura, he wouldn't survive it unscathed.

But to her surprise, rather than try anything, Watts merely stepped back. "Now then, I really must be on my way, Cinder. As much as I'd like to continue chatting, I've a much more important matter to tend to. Goodbye, Cinder. Our time together shall be banished from my memories."

"What?" Cinder couldn't help but utter that one word, confused by Watts' sudden backing off. He was a snide and petty man who'd always made it clear how much he disliked her. Now was the perfect time for him to take her out and yet he wasn't doing so, which was truly unlike him. "Just what is your goal?! Watts!"

She got close to the door just as he backed away from it and gave a quick wave before strolling down the hallway.

Even when she called out to him, uncaring if anyone else could possibly hear her, all she saw was the man striding away like a man on a mission.

Hissing as she swiftly lost sight of him, Cinder headed back for her bed and sat down. Just what had that been about? What was that bastard up really up to?

She didn't get a lot of time to dwell on this, for she suddenly hissed again but this time in pain. She swatted at her neck as it felt as if something had bit her.

And sure enough, something fell and she could only stare dumbly at what looked like one of Watts' rings, only this one had machinal legs sticking out of its sides, making it akin to some kind of robotic spider.

As ridiculous as the thing looked, Cinder's one good eye bulged in horror as she realized just what had happened.

Unfortunately, before she could do anything of note, she began to convulse, her already light skin paling further while her heart felt like it'd just been injected with growth hormone and crank.

The very last thing she was conscious of before her world became one of absolute agony was the sight of the 'spider' quickly scuttling towards and up the door, exiting through the opening…

…And then, Cinder's world went dead and dark.

* * *

Watts was truly in a good mood.

As he'd just told Cinder, Adam Taurus' notes had proven shockingly useful, showing flight paths that the radars of the flagship and other ships likely wouldn't have been able to detect. What few risks there would've been otherwise were easily taken care of via hacking said radars with his rings. It'd helped even more that the personal aircraft he'd taken here was one of his own design, made for just one individual to use and to blend in with the night sky, for it was currently night that he'd decided to move out in. He'd have personally liked to head here soon, but no matter, what did matter is that he was now here.

And of course, he couldn't have just gone on this little journey of his without first seeing to Cinder. What, if anything at all, she could've told James or Ozpin was completely irrelevant, for Salem's machinations were not things that could be so easily slowed or halted. Even so, it was always best to cover up potential loose ends before they became the real deal. He may have told Hazel that things are how they are and that's that, but… well, Watts had always preferred to play things safe when possible.

Also, it was just finally nice to be rid of Cinder for good. Her role in all this had always been infuriatingly overblown, the so-called 'great' power of the Maiden having long since gone to her head.

Now, that said…

Watts chuckled very quietly as he moved through the hallways, turning slightly and looking towards the floor just in time to see the extra 'ring' catch up with him.

In reality, this little trinket, naturally of his own design, was an assassination tool meant for occasions just like this.

It may look like one of the rings he normally wore and indeed it could be worn as such too during its inactive state, but it was really a robot based on a spider. And just like any real spider, it could easily and even more quickly scale walls and ceilings to reach its intended target. Due to its small size, however, it couldn't pack a lot of venom, meaning in order for it to be effective, the venom would need to be exceptionally potent especially if the intended target was exceptionally large and/or resistant to such things, but most fortunately for the former Atlas scientist, Tyrian had been all too glad to offer some of his venom long ago for study.

And as recent history has shown, Tyrian's venom was extremely deadly even in the smallest of amounts. Really now, though not in the same way as Hazel, the crazed serial killer was just as much a monster, Watts thought with a little shiver as he allowed the robot to catch up and climb up to his hand. Upon reaching his open palm, Watts deactivated it via his real rings and as it assumed its inactive form, he gingerly placed it upon his right middle finger. Juvenile, he knows, but apt.

The sound of footsteps off in the distance grabbed his attention and Watts was quick to hide. He may have control over the cameras, enough to hide his presence while leaving everyone else aboard this ship in the dark on it, he still had to watch out for patrols. Thankfully, Taurus' notes on Atlas soldiers' protocols along with his own memories of these things made it easy to predict their patrol routes and utilize what little darkness there was to stay out of sight.

But as confident as he is about staying out of sight, he'd need to move fast. The longer he dawdled, the more likely he would be discovered. Same thing goes for Cinder's corpse too given that she was a popular prisoner. It would only be a matter of time until someone passes by her cell to see the results of his handiwork.

Now, that might seem as if killing her so early on was a bad move in hindsight, but only marginally; James and his forces were all too confident in their technology, technology that he had heavily contributed to the advancement of. Thus, it would prove their undoing. They relied primarily on the detectors within the cells themselves to monitor the conditions of prisoners. That would go doubly so for Cinder, but just like with everything else, it was something that he could easily hack and loop, meaning it would take a patrol to finally realize what had happened.

That would be a while, but he wasn't going to stick around and let that happen while he was still nearby.

Picking up his pace, Watts headed for the flagship's main generator, which naturally powered the entire ship. The layout of the flagship was not one unfamiliar to him and thanks to his control of the cameras, he could easily monitor through a small projection provided by his rings where each patrol currently was along with the additional staff this flagship had aboard. Using this, he charted out the quickest and safest path there and he hustled as quickly as he could.

It took a solid several minutes, minutes during which he'll admit to getting increasingly worried over though he kept his cool. Finally, he reached the generator room and with just few taps at what looked like open air, the electronic locks to the doors undid themselves and he stealthily entered.

Of course, he was by no means the only one in here – there was a small crew dedicated entirely to making sure the main generator and backup generator were always functioning at optimal capacity. However, they were all so utterly focused on their work that, when combined with him also muting the usual sound that emitted whenever someone entered and exited the room, the man went unnoticed.

Standing there as the door closed behind him, Watts spent all of just a second to deliberate on how to go about this. Though undoubtedly potent, there was still only so much of Tyrian's venom contained within his robot, meaning he could only have it take out so many of the people here. Of course, having his robot kill everyone would also be impractical, for as fast as it can scurry about, this room was obviously not small and these people weren't just going to stand around like idiots when some start to drop and scream.

Of course, he didn't come unarmed, packing his usual revolver, but it went without saying that shooting up everyone here would make a lot of unwanted noise.

Hmm, perhaps his goal of doing this stealthily was an impossible one.

Unless…

Smirking, Watts moved low and quickly towards the most obscure corner of the room. As demeaning as it was for him to have to crouch and act like a common thief, it just had to be done.

Once he did so and was confident no one would see him, he fiddled with his rings.

And a split second later, the automated sprinklers went off.

Immediately, everyone here squawked and sputtered and groaned in sheer shock and annoyance. Had an actual emergency warranting the sprinklers had occurred, there'd have been an alarm blaring, flashing red lights and all. As it was only the sprinklers going off, everyone here quickly came to the false conclusion that a malfunction had occurred.

Grumbling in annoyance but also partial amusement, the workers were quick to exit the room, but not before making sure the generators weren't at risk of suffering water damage, after which they gathered up whatever belongings they didn't wish to see get wet and left.

Even before the last person exited the room, Watts was already moving. Several of them would no doubt get on a radio and contact maintenance about this 'mishap' and they'll come check it out and remedy the situation. But that wouldn't be an immediate thing. At bare minimum, Watts was looking at perhaps two minutes or a bit less before someone came around to look inside this room personally to see if it were the sprinklers themselves that were faulty and not something else.

That meant he'd have to move even faster.

But that was no longer an issue.

Rushing up to the main generator, he started to fiddle with the controls. He will give James just this much – he was wise to make sure that the generators couldn't be controlled remotely like everything else aboard this damned ship. That meant if generators were to be turned off and on or switched, it must be from this room and this room only.

And of course, given the nature of his greatest invention, once he switches the ship to run off the backup generator, there will be a noticeable difference in energy levels, so once he switched them the jig will really be up.

Getting off this ship will likely not be as easy as it'd been to get on it, but it would be a challenge he'll readily accept. As he'd told Hazel yesterday, he's more than willing to push his limits if it came down to it.

Thus, without hesitation, he switched the ship over to the backup generator before shutting down the main one. Because he'd chosen to do things this way, he'll go undetected just a moment longer, but once anyone at all comes back into this room, they'll know something is off even if he's able to get out of sight.

The both generators were wonderfully large contraptions that seemed to be almost suspended in midair due to a combination of gravity Dust and other equipment. Shutting these things down, Watts was able to lower the main generator, at which point he operated the control panel to open the hatch on the very back of it.

The instant he did so, the brilliant blue hue that emitted from the generator ceased and he immediately rushed forth and around so that he faced the opening.

And there it was – his greatest achievement… or rather, what would serve as the basis for his greatest achievement.

Within the generator was a mechanical device that was vaguely shaped like a heart. And just like any real heart, it could beat, something that it did even now with the generator switched off.

This was something he dubbed the Eternal Motor, made back when he'd still been working with Atlas' R&D.

Back then, when he'd been just foolish enough to believe his genius would be recognized for what its greatness, he and several others had been tasked with coming up with designs for Atlas' next greatest project. There'd been no particular goal per say, the only stipulation being that whatever their invention may be, it would be something truly revolutionary.

By that point in time, his genius had gone underappreciated time and time again by not just his peers but James Ironwood himself, whom he'd sought to please the most, not out of any desire for 'asskissing' as some would say, but just for the sake of being able to make that arrogant and foolish man submit. And so he'd channeled that frustration in its entirety into that task. He'd vowed that he would come up with an invention that wouldn't simply revolutionize Atlas, but the entire world as everyone knew it.

Having utilized every last bit of knowledge he had regarding mechanical engineering, computer programming and particle physics, Watts had sought a way to incorporate all of that into something that would improve upon humanity itself, make humans more than what they were.

He'd always despised how pathetic humanity was, how little they've really evolved over the course of centuries and was convinced he could find a way to make it better, improved. And since eugenics have been tried and ultimately unsuccessful over the course of entire lifetimes in the past, Watts had sought to instead achieve a true evolution for humanity through technological means instead. It was this that ultimately lead to the formation of the concept behind the Eternal Motor and it was one he'd always had in mind ever since he first started his studies, but only vaguely. It hadn't been until this official task was heaped upon him and the others that he'd been able to fully realize his vision and do what he could to make it a reality.

For weeks and then months, he'd agonized over how to actualize his vision and more than once, whatever plans and actual prototypes he'd made had simply gone up in smoke, sometimes literally. But after many sleepless nights and rage-inspired bouts of mania, he'd finally done it – made a proper prototype.

When he'd presented it to his peers and to James, he'd been in a state of true euphoria, so utterly convinced that his work will be recognized for the revolutionary thing it was and proper production would begin.

Except that didn't end up happening.

Instead of him being the one lauded as the true revolutionary genius he knows he is, it was his colleague Pietro Polendina whose idea was picked as the one with which Atlas would pursue the realization of. And it'd been at that exact moment that what little loyalty Watts had had in James and the Atlas military as a whole had simply withered away into absolute nothingness.

Really now, creating an artificial lifeform with its own aura? While Watts would admit to it being a novel idea, the very fact that it was known from the start a portion of a living human's aura would be needed to infused with an artificial construct should've seen that idea scraped from the get-go. Instead, it ended up being deemed a truly miraculous thing and everyone cheered Pietro's name. Now that perpetually cheerful bastard was deemed Atlas' greatest living mind? What rubbish!

Not only was a portion of a person's soul needed to merge with a construct, the success ratio of this venture was abysmally low and regardless if it was successful or not, that portion of the soul would be forever lost to the original person. And as Penny Polendina's very existence proved, the fusion between a portion of a soul and artificial body led to the formation of a whole new personality that must be taught from scratch about everything, much like teaching an overgrown child. Truly ineffective, in Watts' opinion.

Oh, certainly, he will admit to Pietro's 'daughter' possessing commendable combat prowess, prowess that could theoretically be maintained indefinitely since she can't tire out, but as she was a machine, aura couldn't heal her the same way it could heal the wounds of an actual person. Whatever damage she takes must be fixed back at a proper facility. And even 'killed,' in order to be 'resuscitated,' Pietro would have to permanently give up yet another portion of his soul to do so, an action that would only cripple him further and leave him that much closer to death's ever welcoming door.

This only made it so much more ironic that his idea was more or less the opposite. Whereas the insane Pietro would see to combine a human soul with technology to create artificial lifeforms like Penny, Watts sought to elevate humanity by infusing them with technology.

In this case, that would be the Eternal Motor. It looked and functioned vaguely like a heart for a reason.

Since time immemorable, the heart itself had always had a great deal of symbolism among humanity. Though commonly used to represent love and other extoled virtues, it also served as a symbol of humanity itself. To sound cheesy if only to himself, in order to be human one must have a heart. Not just in the literal sense but in the metaphorical sense too; to be capable of emotions like love and joy and sadness and grief.

Another way of putting that, would be to have a soul.

And considering aura, a manifestation of the soul, existed… just what would happen if the heart, a synonym for the soul at times, were to be replaced by something else? Would a person still retain their soul, their heart? Would they become heartless, soulless beings? Or would something else entirely happen?

That last question had been Watts' driving force for a very long time and the Eternal Motor was his answer to it.

He will admit – he knew not what would actually happen should his device be used. But the theory behind it was this: what if, this device which produces energy via quantum fluctuations, were to affect the human soul itself? What if through its function it would be able to effectively merge the human soul with the quantum forces that bind everything together? Would it not lead to a form of evolution, of transcendence? Would humanity, if it adopted his designs, not end up becoming more than it was before?

He obviously thought so, otherwise he never would've come up with this in the first place. But alas, when his prototype had been shown off, it'd been deemed far too risky, too dangerous, too… frightening. Seeing as the Eternal Motor was meant to be a literal replacement for the human heart, there'd naturally be the risk of the body rejecting the transplant, to say nothing of the usual risks that accompany any surgery. And of course, performing such a surgery on not just one but many people and eventually all of humanity? It was deemed ridiculous from the outset.

As if Pietro's proposal was any less dangerous and risky as far as his fellow humans were concerned…

But he was getting too far lost in past memories here. He had but perhaps a minute to grab his prize and flee.

"If nothing else, James," Watts began as he reached into the generator and grabbed the Eternal Motor. "At least you had enough sense to not destroy it."

After his proposal had been rejected, his prototype had been confiscated and locked away and all his research notes – or what James had thought to be all his notes – had been destroyed, the prototype and its research deemed too dangerous to continue existing. But the sheer amount of energy it produced was truly out of this world and it would seem that James had eventually opted to utilize it this way rather than destroy it and risk a potential explosion.

Again, it enraged Watts immensely to see his prize treated so horribly below its station like this, but their loss would be his gain. In hindsight, he now understood that mass production of the Eternal Motor would have been impossible due to how dangerous its construction is, meaning this prototype was and will forever be the only one of its kind… and if James would be unwilling to take the step needed to realize its full potential, then it was up to Watts to do that himself.

And of course, he shall gladly be his own test subject. Never let it be said that he wasn't willing to subject to himself what he'd subject to others.

With his possession now regained, Watts bolted for the door, all thoughts of complete stealth thrown aside.

Exiting the room, he raced back the way he came, using his rings to tap into the comms system to monitor radio traffic. He could've easily multitasked, running back to his aircraft whilst also looking at actual camera feeds and the like, but he wouldn't risk failure here thus his decision to stick to purely auditory means of monitoring the situation.

His heart did skip a few beats when he heard two soldiers coming down the adjacent hallway, but at the last possible second, he was able to hack into the lights system and cause a second-long blackout. The suddenness of this naturally took everyone by surprise as their eyes tried to swiftly adjust. This included Watts himself, but as he already knew the layout, he was able stay on the move without losing speed.

Of course, he made sure to turn the lights back on once he was clear lest he raise everyone's alertness that much more, but even he was not so confident as to presume the crew would just shrug that off. With all that's happened recently, they'd be combing over the ship for any and all oddities any moment now.

Hurrying some more, Watts was eventually able to make it to the emergency hatch that he'd entered through in the first place.

Unlocking it and killing the alarm before it went off, the strong winds blew right into his face, which was expected given that the flagship was suspended high above ground over Vale. If he even remotely slipped, he would undoubtedly fall to his death. But his death wasn't a concern – the potential loss of his Eternal Motor was.

Thus, securing his hold on it even more, he used one hand to grab onto the emergency hatch's handle and in a show of strength, flung himself at an angle out of the flagship, closing the hatch behind him with a wiggle of his fingers.

As he did so, he naturally ended up getting blown away in mid-fall, but as this was intentional, he worried no longer.

With yet another few taps at the air in mid-fall, he activated his aircraft's autopilot and it detached from where it was attached to the underside of the flagship and raced towards him. Its cockpit opened as it neared him and he flipped around so that he landed elegantly within it without the aircraft losing speed.

Only as the cockpit closed and he secured himself properly did he let out the breath he'd been holding, his prototype still in one piece and now resting in his lap. Its heart-like beatings were truly hypnotizing now that he had a moment to properly inspect it without fear of being caught. After all, his aircraft was still invisible to their radars and its plating functioned very much like a chameleon, able to cloak itself from physical detection. For all intents and purposes, he was truly invisible.

And as he now manually operated his aircraft back to his little hideaway, he began to let out a long laugh.

With all that he's learned ever since meeting Salem and observing Hazel's and Jaune Arc's abnormal qualities, he should be able to give his greatest invention the final few tweaks it needed to be considered truly perfect.

Once that was done, he shall bequeath unto himself this new and improved Eternal Motor. After all, he was the only one truly worthy of its power.

And once that was all said and done, James and the others will finally pay for their transgressions.

With the fulfillment of all his objectives so close at hand, Watts flew off into the distance, unseen by everyone and laughing with ever greater joy.

His time was finally at hand.

* * *

Leonardo Lionheart, despite his status as a huntsman and headmaster of Haven academy, was not by any means a brave man as of recently. Once upon a time, he _was_ brave, but ever since Salem had reached out to him and made it known just what sort of power she so casually wielded, the person Leonardo had once been had died.

And now, here he was, a cowardly wretch that could only pretend to still be brave and trustworthy towards his friends when in reality he desperately bent a knee to Salem out of a desire to save himself.

Truly, he was the lowest of the low, or so he thought of himself.

"Oh, Ozpin, just what would you think of me now…?" the headmaster murmured. This was a question he asked himself a lot nowadays, more so recently than ever before. That he couldn't fathom an answer to this question only made him feel worse.

Alas, no matter what his friends – if he still held the right to consider them that – may end up thinking of him once the truth is brought to light, it didn't change the fact that he had no way of actually opposing Salem, not by himself.

It also didn't change the fact that he'd done numerous things on that woman's behalf many times already. From providing Salem what little bit of info Ozpin gave to him, something that was becoming rarer by the day it seemed, to deliberately sending out Mistral's finest huntsmen and huntresses out on suicide missions, he's ended up with quite the track record.

And now, here he was attempting to meddle with yet another thing that he had no right to meddle with at all.

Beneath Haven Academy lied a vast chamber that wasn't natural nor made entirely by man, at least not conventionally.

This… this was the chamber where the Relic of Knowledge was kept secured in, a chamber that is accessible only to a Maiden.

Or rather, it should be.

But soon that may no longer be the case.

Leonardo grimaced fiercely as the Seer Grimm wriggled from where it was at, having latched itself to his back and its tentacles roping around his arms and the feelers at the end of said tentacles essentially resting in his open palms.

The headmaster had known about the existence of magic ever since Ozpin had first brought him into the fold so long ago. He came to know of what wonders it could be capable of. But thanks to Salem, the lion Faunus had come to learn the horrors of magic too.

Back then, even as he'd feared the ruler of the Grimm's actions, he'd still been confident that the defenses Ozpin had put up around the Relics would remain impossible to breach so long as a Maiden wasn't included in the picture.

However, Salem aimed to circumvent this defense and it'd fallen to him to see to it that she was able to do just that.

Though Salem wasn't always monitoring him through the Seer, she'd long since established the fact that she could still get a read on his situation at any given time through the empathic bond she shared with it. Thus, even if she was preoccupied with something else, should the Seer notice him doing something that it didn't like, Salem would sense its discontentment and promptly check in. That the Seer didn't even have to be nearby to monitor him either meant that he couldn't simply lock it up somewhere and then go elsewhere to avoid being watched. And of course, if the Seer is killed, Salem will definitely feel its death throes through their connection and simply have all the Grimm in the surrounding regions rush the academy.

And with most of the students still in Vale until things calm down for them to return here, that meant the academy was severely lacking in defenders. Sure, there was himself and the teachers here, but while their power and skill were well above that of any students', they were also significantly fewer in number, a factor that the Grimm always had humanity beat in.

Thus, he really couldn't risk much of anything here. He can't hide from the Seer nor can he risk killing it. Even trying to hint its existence to someone else to get them to kill it for him would be seen through by Salem and the Grimm would come regardless.

The frustration over his lack of options combined with his guilt over his betrayal and fear of Salem was really wearing him down, so much so that as he stood before the door to the vault that held the Relic of Knowledge, the Seer would hiss threateningly into his very mind whenever he so much as lowered his tired arms even an inch.

But how could he not be so tired? All the stress aside, he's been standing in this very same position for over an hour now and this hadn't been the first time he's been forced to do this either.

The Seer's hissing ceased as he once again straightened his posture and raised his arms properly, his hands and the Seer's feelers pressing directly against the vault's door.

Even now, he knew not what exactly this was supposed to accomplish. Salem, as usual, had simply told him what to do but not why he had to. Now the stress of not knowing was gnawing away at him.

But then the Seer's bulbous form suddenly shifted and with such an intensity that Leonardo nearly groaned in pain as its hold on his limbs and torso tightened immensely.

One of its tentacles was wrapped around his throat and that one tightened as well, nearly cutting off all attempts to breathe properly. He was quickly choking out for air and his vision was slowly beginning to blacken out-.

-Only for the Seer's hold to lighten up, just enough to avoid his untimely demise for now.

He gasped for air and blinked several times as he shook off the disorientation. As he did so, he focused on what was going on. And just as he did so, he stiffened as he saw the feelers of the Seer begin to glow a few multitude of colors as they retracted slightly from the door.

In a moment of true inspiration, Leonardo gasped. He now figured out just what it was the Seer was doing and why Salem had wanted this done.

He didn't know a whole lot about magic, but what he did know in terms of relevancy was that the vaults the Relics were kept in were basically keyed to the magical signatures of the Maidens. With this one security feature, Ozpin ensured that he himself nor Salem could just waltz up to any of the vaults on their lonesome and open it themselves.

But, just as how electronic locks can be hacked and fingerprints can be faked to fool hand scanners and how even retinal scans can be fooled sometimes even with just the right type of contacts, the security feature of the vaults could likely be fooled too.

Leonardo concentrated for a moment, trying to sense his own aura levels. And to his horror, he realized that his aura capacity was currently running low. No wonder he'd been so tired recently – somehow, whenever he had to come down here in the dead of night to do this task, the Seer was siphoning his aura to fuel its probing attempts. That's why it had to latch onto him like this, most likely.

And through the connection it had with Salem, the Seer was analyzing the magical power the very vault itself gave and sending whatever information was provided back to Salem. By doing so, she likely sought to artificially reproduce the magical signature of a Maiden!

If she succeeds in doing that, then…!

Leonardo shuddered as the full implications of this struck him.

If Salem succeeded in replicating the magical signature of a Maiden then she'd have no need for capturing the Maidens anymore. She'd just be able to get through the defenses in place all on her own. It'd just be an issue of figuring out how to then transport the Relics from their vaults safely back to her. But with how many human agents she seemed to have at her disposal in any given era, that'd be a non-issue too.

The sheer terror that coursed through him was such that the headmaster of Haven subconsciously backed away from the fault, breaking the physical connection between it and the Seer. But he didn't even get a few steps back before the Seer hissed shrilly and the teeth it possessed bite into him. And with how drained his aura was, the teeth dug deep.

He screamed in sheer pain as the Grimm quite literally ate a chunk out of him as it writhed, its surprising weight making him stumble forth and falling onto his knees… but with his palms and thus its feelers once more making contact with the vault door.

His scream died off quickly enough, devolving into whimpers and broken sobbing.

This was it, he thought, this was Salem's victory for all intents and purposes.

The world simply didn't know it yet.

A whole new level of despair sunk into the very core of his being. And so, with his spirit truly broken now, he could only kneel there in subservience to Salem's shadow.

* * *

 **So, what do you think, guys? Quite a bit longer than the previous chapter, yeah? And with quite a few surprises too at that, ha ha. Hope said surprises are pleasant ones for you guys.**

 **Yeah, from the start, I'd always intended for Salem to try figuring out a way to bypass the vaults the Relics are kept in. Now, I know the Relic of Creation is being used to power Atlas, but as far as she still knows, it's in a fault, complete with the same magical defenses the vault the Relic of Knowledge is in has. Anyways, it's always bothered me how in canon, only a Maiden can open any of these vaults. After all, if it's simply a matter of having magical power, then Ozpin should still be able to open it even with what little magic power he has left and that goes triply so for Salem who still retains her full might. Now, I'm aware such a thing would make the existence of the Maidens redundant, but still, just an oddity in my mind. Now, if the magical power bequeathed to the Maidens ends up developing its own unique signature and that's what Ozpin used as the basis for the vaults, that would make a lot more sense, but even then, it shouldn't be that almighty a defense or whatever. Hence Salem's way of getting around it in this fic. Hope that makes sense to you guys. If not, please PM me if you feel like it.**

 **As for Watts, expect him to become much more active in the near future thanks to the Eternal Motor. On that particular note, the Eternal Motor is not something of my own creation, but rather something taken from yet another of Light's many chuuni visual novels titled Zero Infinity – Devil of Maxwell. Now, as the VN is untranslated, I was left with only what few reviews and wikis there are on it to get a feel for how exactly the Eternal Motor works, so if any of you happen to be fluent in Japanese and have played it, do feel free to correct me about it.**

 **Anyways, as I'm sure you can now guess, Watts will be gaining quite the power boost thanks to it, but I intend to make it far less story-breaking than how it is in its home series, where, trust me, a number of the characters are ridiculously OP, especially in the latter routes. That said, Watts is going to be far more formidable than he ever was in canon, at least in terms of direct combat. Do look forward to what's in store for him.**

 **And yep, Cinder's dead too. She's served her purpose for this fic. Plus, well, at the risk of sounding petty, I've just never liked her as a character. Not sure why she's as popular as she is (same goes for Neo too in my opinion) but yeah, that's just how it is. Granted, I didn't just off her because I don't like her, rather she just doesn't have that much development potential in fanfics from my point of view, not when compared to Jaune or a bunch of other characters that are ripe for development. By that, I mean that in fanfics, it is so easy to take the likes of Jaune or some other side character and develop them into something unique while still retaining some core character traits from canon. With Cinder, not so much, at least not to me. To all you other writers out there, I'm confident you can take Cinder and make her into something truly fun to read about and stuff much like how Couer does in his RWBY fics, but I just don't have that kind of imagination nor writing ability when it comes to her, so yeah. Again, hope you understand.**

 **Whelp, not much else to say on the fanfic front, so I guess that's about it for now.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!**


	40. Chapter 40

Hey guys! Just in case you didn't notice it, I edited my error in the last chapter. Yeah, not sure how my memory got so fugged up that I mistook the Relic of Destruction for being the one in Atlas and the Relic of Choice being beneath Haven, but I made sure to fix it upon it being pointed out the very next day. So, yeah, sorry about that. Will do my best to keep confusing errors like that from happening again.

Additionally, for those of you wondering why Ozpin would tell Jaune about Salem's immortality, that'll actually be explained shortly, so hope that puts your concerns to rest.

Thirdly, as a good friend of mine pointed out, in an episode of the World of Remnant, it was stated that Grimm and aura do not go together at all. Grimm simply cannot absorb or use aura and thus the last section of the previous chapter breaks canon. That said, I didn't know that fact as I do not watch World of Remnant. That, and as most fics go, differences between canon and fics will naturally occur so long as it fits the narrative being told. In my case, the whole 'Salem is responsible for the gradual evolution of Grimm' was my attempt at being able to explain this ability the Seer possesses – an ability that will be elaborated on in this very chapter.

Anyways, just wanted to explain all that in case there was any confusion. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 40

It was with a great deal of frustration that Ozpin paced his office. At the risk of sounding crass, if only to himself, he was getting really fucking tired of bullshit.

The 'bullshit' in question? One exceptionally spooked and angered James as he stormed into his office to speak with him, but not before rounding up Glynda and Qrow in the process too.

And it'd been amongst his inner circle that James had dropped a massive bombshell on them in this very late night, when most others were dead asleep.

Cinder Fall, the woman who'd tried to kill Amber, was now dead. To be more specific, she'd been _killed_. And after being informed of the state of her body after it'd been discovered, there'd been yet another startling truth.

"Just how the hell did Callows get to her?" Qrow murmured for what appeared to be the umpteenth time.

Indeed, when the state of her body was discovered and a cause of death was quickly determined, it was revealed that there were traces of a venom that hadn't been officially recorded for years now, belonging to that of one Tyrian Callows, whose venom had been the cause of many deaths prior to him being caught and subsequently escaping.

Ozpin highly doubted it was actually Callows himself who'd been the one to slay their captive; for one thing, the deranged madman had obviously last been seen in Mistral, when he'd fought against the Branwen tribe. There was no way he could've gotten from the wildlands of Mistral all the way here aboard James' flagship that quickly, not even with help from Salem. And even if under orders to dispose of only Cinder and leave lest he be punished for any screw ups, there was no way the scorpion Faunus would've passed up a chance to raise some hell aboard the flagship. It simply didn't fit his MO.

Thus, it was far more likely that someone had somehow gotten their hands on a sample of the serial killer's venom and used it to kill Cinder Fall. Said someone was able to get aboard James' flagship and leave without being noticed too, indicating serious cunning – doing such a thing was by no means an easy feat, not even for the most skilled of spies, meaning whoever did this held a truly absurd advantage somehow.

But more than that…

"Let's all try to calm down for a moment here," Ozpin said, trying to be the voice of reason as he normally is, as he should be. But even his patience for all this was reaching its limit. Too many things have been going wrong the past several weeks and whatever attempts he and his allies made at countering their foes' moves were so far failing hard. "James, that device you mentioned, can you elaborate on it, please?"

It was with admirable effort that the normally easy to anger Atlas general was able to keep himself relatively restrained just long enough to speak. He'd spoken of some sabotage that had also occurred with the flagship's generator, having mentioned a device that had been used to power said generator, but naturally the issue with Cinder Fall had taken precedence over explaining this other matter.

Letting out a heavy sigh, James rubbed his forehead as if to suppress a migraine before speaking. "…It was something made years ago by a man named Arthur Watts, one of our best scientists prior to his death during an experiment. The device was something called… called the Eternal Motor if I remember right. It's been a very long time since I've ever heard about it, much less studied up on it, but the gist was that it was meant to be a perpetual motion machine of sorts. Watts, for all his intellect, was… a little disturbed, wanting to produce multiple Eternal Motors to implant within people. His logic was that by doing so, humanity could end up becoming something… more."

"Was he mad?" Glynda immediately retorted, amazed by what she was hearing and clearly not in a good way. "Just what was his logic behind such a thing? There are enough problems as it is with people adjusting to prosthetics for their limbs and he wished to stick machines like that _inside_ people?"

Glynda made a good point. While there were plenty of people out there who've suffered the loss of a limb – or more – and have gotten it replaced with a prosthetic, not all of them ever fully adjust to having it. And it especially wasn't easy for some to physically get used to needing it either. Not even James, who'd gotten a solid portion of his torso replaced along with his right arm replaced with robotics after a horrible battle many years ago, was quite over it all.

And in the case of implants of any kind, there was always a chance of the body simply rejecting it. Thus, planting a perpetual motion machine in people… the number of ways it could all go wrong were too numerous to immediately count.

James winced. "Like I said, he was brilliant but disturbed. Long before his death, I'd made sure to have his equipment and notes confiscated. While I could admit to there being potential with his idea, the dangers it posed was far too much for me to ever approve of… that said, the prototype he did make certainly was capable of producing an immense amount of power, no Dust or any other source of apparent fuel needed. If nothing else, I figured it could be used in another fashion, one that wouldn't prove harmful to people. And as the Relic of Creation is already powering Atlas, well…"

Ozpin hummed. "So, you made it into the power source for your flagship. But now, it is missing."

James nodded grimly, even growling. "…I don't know just who could've taken it, much less how they even knew of its existence; the only people who ever knew of it aside from myself were those that had once been a part of the same team Watts was on, including Dr. Polendina. Naturally, they were all sworn to secrecy. I've already contacted some people back in Atlas to speak with them, determine if perhaps they'd leaked the knowledge somehow, but I personally doubt it; they're genuinely good people."

"Maybe someone threatened them or something," Qrow muttered. "That's usually how shit goes. I just can't believe you'd used something like that as a damned battery, Jimmy. You sure you didn't replace your balls with iron ones?"

James rolled his eyes at Qrow's gruff and crude words but answered all the same. "Even as just a power source, I was well aware of its dangers. That's why I had a whole crew dedicated solely to observing and maintaining the generators. If anything had gone wrong, they'd have known right away, which they did upon returning to their workstations after the 'malfunction' with the sprinklers. The flagship will still run without issue but now it's going to require just as much Dust as any other ship to keep running until a better alternative occurs."

The general then looked to Ozpin. "But enough about this for now – just what are we to do about this situation with the deceased Cinder?"

The headmaster sighed. "Sadly, it wasn't as if she was being very cooperative with us," he replied in a quiet tone as he leaned against his desk. "The loss of life, no matter whose life it may be, is horrible… but ultimately a senseless one; even if she'd lived, I doubt we would've been able to push her hard enough to give up whatever information she may have known."

"In other words, we're back to square one," Glynda commented in an exhausted tone. "…At least Amber is doing better now."

Indeed. If there was at least one thing that was good about this, it was that, upon hearing of this news in the first place, he and Glynda had gone to see Amber. He hadn't even had to check the system monitoring the young woman to know – through his extrasensory perceptions alone, he'd been able to detect the fully restored Maiden power within her.

Amber was whole again.

Alas, the Fall Maiden was still comatose. Whether or not she'd wake up at all was unknown, but her vitals were certainly looking stronger than before, so there was at least that. But strong vitals or not, it wasn't an indicator one way or another that she'll wake soon let alone at all. That was the tragic thing about comas – even if the person was doing perfectly fine otherwise, there was never a guarantee they'll wake up soon or even at all.

Still, he can only hope for the best here.

"Then what do you think, Oz?" Qrow drawled out, folding his arms over his chest. "With the shit hitting the fan over and over again, think we should try making use of the kid?"

At that, the tension in the air changed. Ozpin could only sigh upon immediately noticing said change.

"What kid?" James asked suspiciously.

With Qrow throwing him under the bus, the centuries old wizard abruptly launched into an explanation of what had occurred most recently concerning one Jaune Arc.

Summing up the gist of that event in the span of just several moments, Ozpin waited in resignation, knowing that James and Glynda – but mainly the former – wouldn't take this news too well.

Sure enough…

"T-This is insane!" the general roared. If it wasn't for the thickness of the walls, made so intentionally to keep conversations in here private, who knows how many people would've heard the man shout. "Just how could this be?! Was he really able to piece together all this through… through mere happenstance?!"

Glynda, for her part, said nothing but was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Whether it was due to this breach of secrecy and by one of their students no less, or him keeping this from her and James for a few days now or just everything combined was unknown.

"You're… you're certainly right to be so frustrated," Ozpin admitted somewhat reluctantly.

His friend did have a point. It was truly an odd series of conveniences here. Though he'd chosen Mr. Arc's team to take on the mission to Sol which had been what put him in direct contact with Hazel, the direct confrontation between the two of them had been genuinely unexpected. The seeming animosity the man held for the blond teen had also been completely unforeseen as were the slip ups made regarding keeping even Salem's very name hidden from everyone outside his inner circle.

However, he'd long since become numb to how oddly life could go. Sometimes, it seemed as if everything in the world was going increasingly wrong and other times, things can go horribly right.

And in all honesty, it was much better that it was Mr. Arc who'd been the one to find out about Salem rather than someone else. Oh, he didn't doubt he's told his friends by now, he trusted in Mr. Arc's ability to keep this information from spreading outside of his circle of friends.

"Unbelievable," James muttered. "Oz, it's bad enough that a student, through a combination of luck and his own intuition, managed to figure out Salem even existed, but just how could you then go out of your way to fill in some of the details?! Letting him know she's 'an immortal ruling the Grimm' that's been active behind the scene for centuries?! Can you even trust him to stay calm and silent about this?!"

Ozpin held up his hands to placate the general. "James," he began sternly. "You need to _calm down._ "

He said this quietly but with such an intensity that the Atlas general actually recoiled as if struck. Even Qrow and Glynda looked surprised.

Ozpin winced slightly, his own emotions running high now in response to James' constant temper problems. Reining himself in, he spoke in a calmer tone. "It wasn't as if I freely told him _everything_ about Salem or even what our own plans were in combatting her. Of course, Mr. Arc is an observant young man, so I'm sure he'd have realized that not long afterwards, but it isn't as if there's much else that he could do at the moment to dig even deeper into this. That said, however… I do believe that, should things be dire enough, we could and should bring him further into the fold."

"Ozpin, you can't be serious," Glynda spoke up, shocked. "I understand just as well as you do that Mr. Arc's power and skill are certainly extraordinary for his age, but-!"

Ozpin shook his head. "Glynda, I don't think you fully do. He fought against Hazel _twice_. Not only has he emerged in one piece both times, but based off the information he's provided, it would seem that he was able to clash evenly with him. I'm sure you understand that means."

Glynda did, as did Qrow and James. They too knew of Hazel Rainart and his monstrous combat prowess, his seeming invincibility. For any huntsman trainee to not only be able to survive a confrontation with the man, but to apparently even give him an actual fight? That was something even most huntsmen couldn't accomplish.

"Moreover, Mr. Arc… his power only seems to be growing every time I see him," Ozpin continued, using this moment of silence to press his verbal advantage. "How much stronger he is now compared to when you and I first noticed his power during initiation and combat class, I cannot say… but one thing is most certain: his growth rate is truly abnormal. Given even just another month or so, he could easily give entire teams of huntsmen a challenge in terms of sheer power alone. I'd even go as far as to say he could match the destructive might of a Maiden."

And that right there practically knocked the others right off their feat. That was not a statement to be made lightly. What made the Maidens so sought after wasn't necessarily whatever level of combat prowess any one Maiden could possess, but rather the sheer power any Maiden could easily command at any given moment, provided they've the experience to properly push their magical abilities to the limit.

To manipulate the very elements themselves was by no means something exclusive solely to magic – plenty of semblances out there could do such things too, to say nothing of those who are experienced in the usage of Dust. But the differences between a Maiden and a Dust user or someone with a semblance could best be described in terms of sheer, unrelenting power and scale.

Someone may be able to use fire Dust to generate a fireball the size of their torso to incinerate a thick tree in a few seconds, but a Maiden could easily produce a stream of flames that could extend for hundreds of meters and raze entire forests in just a matter of minutes. Someone could use a semblance to produce a single lightning bolt, fully capable of frying another person to death even if they've aura to protect themselves with, but a Maiden could summon a lightning storm spanning miles on end to rain down upon their enemies.

The might of a Maiden was truly no joke, easily worth the might of a hundred heavily armed ships or even more if pushed to the limit. Thus, for him to even consider comparing a young man such as Mr. Arc to the Maidens said scary things about his own power. That he still had the potential to grow even more powerful was truly a thing of wonder and even fear.

But more than that, it was enough to get his friends, bless their hearts, to just shut up for a moment, giving him some much needed time to fully calm down.

"You really mean that?" James asked in a much more subdued tone of voice.

"He ain't yanking your chain here," Qrow spoke up suddenly. "I was there when the kid came in to talk. While I can't say if he really does have what it takes to rival a Maiden or whatever, he's definitely way above the level of a student – had things gone south, I'm sure even my semblance would've had trouble slowing him down."

James stared at Qrow, who looked back at him impassively. The general, upon seeing no sense of deceit in the alcoholic man's eyes, then turned back to Ozpin. "Do you… do you think this teen would be capable of taking on even Salem? Of killing her? Is that what you're hinting at here, Oz?"

At that, Ozpin internally grimaced.

Back when he'd brought them all in on this, he'd taken the risk of describing the woman that was once his wife as an immortal creature, much like how he'd done so with Mr. Arc too. To his surprise and relief, that particular bombshell hadn't stunned them anywhere near as much as he'd thought it would.

And he knew exactly why that was too – the thing about words is that they were almost always open to different interpretations.

For example, what may be 'large' to some may be of average size or even small to others because everyone has their own mental image of 'largeness.' What it meant for something to be 'light' or 'heavy,' 'cold' or 'hot,' 'fragile' or 'strong,' so on and so forth, it always varied amongst people. Certainly, there were agreed upon 'limits,' if he could call it that, extremes that everyone agreed on as being extremes, but for the most part the meaning of many terms were incredibly subjective.

This applied to even the very term of immortality itself amongst other such concepts.

Thanks to literally centuries worth of stories, more so since the rise of popular media such as cartoons, TV shows, movies and games, the very word of immortality got used and tossed around a lot, to the point where there were even different 'types' of immortality from what he's come to understand.

More often than not now, if someone or something is said to be immortal, it's usually meant in the sense that they can't die from aging or disease or maybe said immortal is just unnaturally tough and had yet to be beaten down hard enough to actually die. Maybe whatever it was that is immortal could die but would just resurrect, much like him in that respect or it'll continue to live so long as a certain object or whatever continued to exist.

The point is, thanks to popular media, a lot of people tended to think of immortals as beings that could still very much die, it's just that they're that much more difficult to kill for good.

And his friends, who've grown up with such a culture around them, were no exceptions from this odd bias. As far as they knew, Salem was immortal in the sense that she wasn't going to die of old age anytime soon. In their minds, she could be killed, it was just a matter of either beating her down hard enough to keep her down or finding a way to bypass said immortality…

…And sadly, it was on that front that he was truly loathe to admit Salem most likely was immortal in the truest sense of the word.

When the God Brothers had wiped out the first version of humanity, the one he'd hailed from, Salem had clearly survived that horrific act. Even when she'd thrown herself into the pools of destruction, it'd only corrupted her into… into whatever it is she could be considered now.

Back during his first reincarnation, when he'd met her again and they'd spoken to one another of all they've missed, she'd made it clear just how many times, in moments of weakness such as despair or rage, she'd tried to take her own life… to no avail.

And when the truth behind his resurrection was made known to her and she'd made clear her new plans to gather the Relics and summon the gods to fight them and rule the new humanity, the two of them had fought long and hard, a battle that had cost them the lives of their four dear daughters, which to this day still haunts him. And during that battle, he'd reduced her to little more than a large puddle of blood and even that hadn't been enough to slow her down for more than half a minute at most.

There'd been plenty of other times where they'd directly clashed throughout the centuries, back when his strength had still been at its peak.

He'd tried so many things, so many different ways of execution from simple dismemberment to outright atomization… and she'd regenerated each and every time from it without even looking winded.

Just about the only thing he hadn't tried on her was the Relic of Destruction, but only because he feared potential collateral damage and even Salem hadn't been so arrogant enough at the time to want to risk being struck directly by such a Relic, made directly by the God of Light himself. Whether or not said Relic would actually work was unknown, but so far, Salem was truly living up to the very definition of immortality.

If there was something that could kill her, he's yet to discover it. Sadly, his usage of the Relic of Knowledge had done much to crumble whatever hopes he did have of killing her – Jinn was not an individual that could lie or tell half-truths, especially not when asked questions as direct as 'is there anything that can kill Salem?'

But, of course, he had to keep this particular bit of knowledge hidden from his own allies. They were no doubt daunted by the task before them, but the possibility that Salem could still be slain or at least beaten in some form was what gave them the determination to keep marching forward. If they were to ever learn that she was truly immortal so far…

Ozpin tried not to dwell on that possibility. He's lost far too many comrades over the course of his lives to despair whenever he'd naively told them the truth. Many have backstabbed him for dragging them into such a hopeless war and while he could never blame them for such a thing, every time he was halted was a time when Salem could gain the upper hand.

Now more than ever, that was something he couldn't afford to have happen.

Thus, it was to his and everyone else's benefit that they continue to believe in the possibility Salem could be killed eventually. Better that they hope rather than give up.

Focusing back on James' question, Ozpin could only answer quietly. "Possibly. I won't hold my breath for such a thing, but at this point, we must consider _all_ options, no matter how improbable… or unethical." He looked to Glynda as he said that last word, knowing well her concern for using students to carry on this crusade against Salem. It was bad enough that he'd done this kind of thing before, but the continuing usage of such a thing naturally tends to wear down one's very soul.

Glynda grimaced but begrudgingly nodded. "Very well. If you truly do think Mr. Arc could be helpful, then do as you please. But if a better alternative presents itself-."

"-I'll do just that," Ozpin assured her.

There was a slight pause afterwards as everyone there considered what was just decided on. It was Qrow who spoke afterwards. "So, should we approach the kid and bring into the fold for good right here and now? Wait a day?"

"I'll figure that out," Ozpin replied. "But frankly, I'd like to try and get a handle on the current situation before we start doing anything else. I understand that now more than ever we need to take the initiative, but we still can't afford to be hasty about this. Another misstep could potentially have far more horrible consequences than the ones we've had to deal with so far. That said… James, what of the other two we still have in custody?"

He referred to both Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, both of whom were Cinder Fall's lackeys.

James, looking and feeling much calmer now than just moments ago, answered in a controlled tone. "They're still alive and in one piece. More than that, they're still very much within their cells. And I already made sure to personally verify that they were among the living still – after how long it appears Cinder Fall had been dead even though the monitors we had on her said otherwise, I've made sure that guards personally checked on them much more often."

"Not that you expect anyone to come for them, yes?" Glynda asked.

James nodded, sighing as he did so. "Like Oz and I have already mentioned before, they may have been privy to Cinder Fall's plans to some extent, but nowhere near to the extent that's actually useful for us. In the end, they were just pawns to her, albeit ones more useful than most, I suppose, if only for their respective skill sets. Whoever assassinated Fall likely knew that too, which is likely why those two went untouched."

Qrow grunted. "Then you plan to toss them in the actual slammer? Not like there's much point in keeping them around anymore, right?"

"Yes. I'll arrange for their transport to somewhere else. They've committed quite an extensive list of crimes, not just here in Vale but other locales across the continent, so they'll be locked away in a proper prison for a long time, likely even life."

Ozpin hummed. If nothing else, there was at least that much. Even if this was but a very small victory, it was never a bad thing to have criminals like that put away for good. "I'll leave you to that then, James. Is there anything else?"

He looked from James to Qrow and then to Glynda. His three allies reminded quiet now and that got a nod out of him along with a small surge of relief; at least that was the end of things for now.

"…Very well then. Let's call it a night," the headmaster then said. "For now, let's continue to proceed as we have before. Then, once things are just a bit better situated, I'll contact Mr. Arc and see how a second meeting between the two of us will go. James, for now, just proceed as we've just discussed… and do keep an ear out for any further oddities – it'll no doubt be another sabotage attempt at crippling us."

They all agreed and slowly made their way out of his office, leaving the ancient wizard to his lonesome.

As soon as they were gone, he took off his glasses and rubbed the spot in between his eyes, well and truly run down now.

It was as plain as day that Salem was gearing up for an all out assault upon Vale, but she was first doing what she could to weaken and cripple all the defenses put in place… and sadly, she was doing an excellent job at that. It was truly amazing just how well things were going this time around for the woman as opposed to before, where things tended to be just a bit more even. Even back when he'd first been getting his bearings with all this and tried to establish an actual defense against his former wife, things hadn't been this harrowing, if only because Salem too had been learning how to play the long con here.

But now, things have clearly changed in all sorts of ways. Salem not only had a clearly capable group of pawns now, but the forces of Grimm were ever growing stronger too, not that most people would ever really pay attention to such a things. So many new types of Grimm had been made over the centuries and age had done wonders for a number of these different Grimm in terms of strength and intelligence. He didn't doubt for a second that Salem was figuring out ever new ways to make the Grimm even deadlier than before.

Really now, just about the only reason why the Grimm couldn't immediately wipe out every human settlement in Remnant is because an ever amassing horde of Grimm could never go unnoticed for long no matter how well she directed them around and he's always managed to find a way to dwindle their numbers to something much more manageable by the time the horde could even get near any major human settlement such as the kingdoms. Sometimes, he'd even been able to wipe out the horde outright, thus negating the threat. Plus, the ever-advancing technology of the kingdoms has done wonders in helping thin the Grimm ever more whenever push came to shove, albeit not always easily.

But if even one kingdom's defenses were crippled significantly and he was prevented from taking direct action, then even if Salem could direct a small horde of a mere thousand to form, that kingdom would be swiftly overrun and decimated.

And if this kept up, such a possibility could become an inevitability.

With worry gripping his heart, Ozpin began to plan out what should be done next.

* * *

It was with a small sense of accomplishment that Salem dwelled within her throne room, going over the knowledge that had been gained from her recent study.

She'd put Leonardo to good use by having him serve as a tool for her Seer to study the vault and after many attempts at scanning that damnable vault, the Seer had finally been able to analyze the undercurrent of magic that was perpetually running through it.

And now that she had such knowledge, it was only a matter of time until she could figure out how to replicate the magical signature and fool the vault into thinking the Spring Maiden was the one interacting with it.

Truly, it was one of the most impressive things she's ever pulled off in her eternal life. Magic was by no means something that can be easily studied, for even though everyone in her time had gotten their power from the same source – the God Brothers – they'd all naturally gone about their own ways of using magic, developing their own flair, their own techniques, their own signatures.

This was why the sole magical defense Ozma had put up to protect the Relics was admittedly so effective, because the vaults were keyed directly to the Maidens, whose magical signatures had differed considerably from Ozma's after he'd granted the first Maidens their magic.

However, as just stated, magic still ultimately came from the same source and thus, no matter how different each magical signature could be from one another, the 'core' of their magical essence was the same. It was thanks to this fact that she was able to so thoroughly study the vault of the Spring Maiden as well as she could and detect the subtle differences between that of the Spring Maiden power and her own.

Truly, if this was centuries ago, the feat she pulled off would be considered a true impossibility, something that could only be labelled as a pipe dream among pipe dreams.

But when one becomes a being of endless life and has nothing but time on her hands, well, things that were once considered absolute facts can be proven otherwise.

And the same applied for yet another thing too – the belief that Grimm and aura simply don't mix.

Which was still true, to an extent.

Due to their origins, Grimm are quite literally beings that embody destruction. Anything that lives that they happen to kill ceases to be. In the case of any collateral damage they cause, that being buildings or other structures be they manmade or not, nothing of note occurs. However, in the case of humans and Faunus and anything else that may possess a sense of self, if they die to a Grimm, that's it. No afterlife for them as their very souls are immediately taken in by the Grimm… and as the Grimm were spawned from the pools of destruction, any and all souls taken in are immediately broken down into absolute nothingness.

Because of this inherent trait, it was just assumed by this humanity that Grimm can't use aura… which is true, since aura, being a manifestation of the soul, does get broken down rapidly.

However, over more recent decades, she'd sought to try and play with this trait in the Grimm, but to no success; the misconception humans have about how Grimm work will thus continue on.

But this wasn't quite the case with the Seer Grimm that she's managed to create.

Though only slightly, her growing mastery over the Grimm and the pools of destruction have proven their worth by being able to somewhat dampen this inherent trait in the Seers. This change allows her Seers to absorb aura out of those trapped within their grasps and channel it outwards, therefore meaning that it could very well waste the aura of whomever is unfortunate enough to be their prey and weaken them that much more for the Seers or any other nearby Grimm to finish off.

Truly this was one of the greatest feats she's ever pulled off. Alas, it wasn't something that could be applied in combat – the Seers possessed surprising strength within their tentacles but they could still be overpowered if one tries hard enough plus the Seers themselves were never even meant for direct combat anyways. Additionally, it takes a second or so for them to begin actively draining aura out of their prey and the Seers can't actually use the drained aura itself to enhance them, meaning it has to immediately funnel the aura outwards lest the drained aura just be broken down to nothing within the Grimm. So, needless to say, what she'd achieved was ultimately nothing more than a shoddy success at best…

…But one with great potential still. Given another few decades, she may very well be able to do so much more in this regard, but that was time she didn't intend on waiting around for, not when her goal seemed so terribly close in sight now.

For once she is able to replicate the Spring Maiden's signature, she'll be able to gain access to the vault beneath Haven, where she knew for a fact the Relic of Knowledge was located. Once she did that, she could then use its power to learn of any ways to achieve her ultimate goal, ways that may hopefully mean not having to go through as much trouble to accomplish.

If that ultimately proves impossible though, well, it's not as if it'd be too big a loss. Any Relic she can deprive Ozma of, the better, after all.

And regardless of what she directly does on this front, once Watts and Hazel succeed in fully crippling Vale's defenses, overrunning the kingdom will be effortless, an action that would in turn cripple Atlas too should James Ironwood and his fleet be crushed along with the kingdom, which would deprive Atlas of much needed leadership and power. And with Leonardo already under her thumb, she'd no need to worry about any troubles in Mistral. And as for Vacuo, there was hardly anything of note there worth mentioning. The only real reason why that kingdom even lasted so long as it did is because the environment there could sometimes be too deadly even for certain types of Grimm, plus the Relic of Destruction was there too, being one Relic that not even she would so casually toy around with.

That all said now…

"I wonder just how things are progressing on Watts' and Hazel's end," she murmured out as she rose from her throne and started to gracefully walk forth.

She knew from the start of Watts' desire and ever since the failed attack by the White Fang on Vale's city hall, she's also come to detect the changes Hazel was now undergoing.

And even from here, she could sense those changes becoming ever more drastic in the latter's case, a testament to what appeared to be going on with the man.

Humming thoughtfully, Salem motioned for a Seer near the entrance of the room to approach her. She intended to contact her two subordinates and see up close and personal – in a manner of speaking – just how they may have changed since they'd last made contact.

But then, just as the Seer started to approach, she had a change of heart. Raising her hand again, the Seer ceased its approach and immediately made a beeline back to its original spot.

Salem had a different idea now.

Even with how studious humans had been in her time regarding magic, even with how long she's existed to study and expand her arsenal of powers, magic proved to be a truly mysterious thing, as is befitting of a gift granted by gods, specifically the God of Darkness.

Control over the elements, casting physical illusions, directly attacking the mind, short range teleportation, flight and so much more had been possible through magic. Regarding its more esoteric applications, it was just a matter of creativity and being willing to put in the time and effort needed to figure out how to achieve the desired end result.

There was good reason as to why she and Ozma during his first reincarnation had been considered as gods too among this second version of humanity at the time.

And so, she decided to display such an esoteric ability here and now.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, she reached out with her mind. Minutes went by as it felt as if her mind was somehow actually travelling the vast distance between her current position and the one she desired.

And then…

…

…

…" _Hazel."_

* * *

" _Hazel."_

Having been minding his own business as was usually the case, Hazel had been milling around within the forest Beacon used for its initiations, albeit sticking close to the edge of the forest furthest away from the blasted academy to avoid detection.

He'd gone out to get some air yet again and had unconsciously made his way here of all places.

And needless to say, the absolute last thing he'd expected to suddenly interrupt his solitude was the 'sound' of an all too familiar voice.

So sudden had this interruption been that he'd gone from sitting atop a small boulder to standing, fully alert.

"W-What…?" he murmured, his confusion evident in both his tone and current expression. "Y-Your… your grace…?"

Wondering for just the briefest of seconds if he was now going nuts, his thoughts were interrupted as the woman he'd pledged his services to chuckled… from within his own thoughts.

" _My, my. Looks like it worked, after all… how terribly interesting."_

"…Salem," Hazel spoke, dropping the title that he usually parroted out when directly addressing the woman. He was far too off-put by this sudden development to bother with his usual display of deference. "Is this… telepathy?"

This was not an ability ever demonstrated before, not by any semblance that he knew of, that is. He only even knew of this ability through works of fiction.

" _It is, indeed. Speak within your own thoughts, it makes 'hearing' you easier on my end."_

"… _Like… this?"_ Hazel 'replied' as he gave it a try. Then there was an odd sensation that raced through his very skull as Salem 'nodded' in affirmation. He couldn't help but shudder; he'd known from the start this woman was capable of much, but this was just…

" _Just how are you doing this? Why has this never been done before?"_ he mentally asked as he took a seat again.

" _We'll address that in just a moment or so. First, I wish for a status report. What has happened since our last time speaking? Leave nothing out."_

As those words literally got processed by his mind, Hazel took a second to compose himself. To say he had many questions about this would be understating things. Unfortunately, there was no way he could just make Salem tell him the answers he now so desperately wanted. And that she could do something like this too… he shuddered to imagine what else she might be able to do from afar.

But she was a woman of her word, he considered. If she said she'll explain this in a bit, all he can do is obey.

Thus, he told her of what's happened since his and Watts' last time reporting in.

He could tell Salem was listening impassively as he explained what exactly had happened during the White Fang's attack on city hall, of Cinder's failure to kill the Fall Maiden in addition to her subsequent capture and Watts' killing of her when he'd gone aboard Ironwood's flagship just last night to obtain that which he'd wanted back so much.

But more than that, he told Salem of his battle with one Jaune Arc as well as the oddities that have been occurring both during and well after that fierce conflict.

As this was a conversation occurring entirely within his mind(?), he couldn't actually see Salem and thus was deprived of whatever expressions she may have been making throughout the course of his report. Now more than ever, he would have much appreciated being able to discern what her thoughts may be, but that was denied to him.

…Could she read his mind? Perceive his thoughts and emotions? Given her perceptiveness as is, the possibility she could now do so literally was… disconcerting.

Nonetheless, he soldiered through and finished his report.

His mind then proved unnervingly quiet and for a moment he wondered if whatever telepathic connection between them had been cut somehow.

But then he was proven wrong.

" _I see. Most… interesting. I've had glimpses of what has occurred but to know for certain what had occurred… tell me, Hazel. Just what is Watts doing right this moment?"_

" _Ever since returning from his 'errand,' he's holed himself up in a laboratory that our base came equipped with. He mentioned only briefly before entering it that he was going to modify that Eternal Motor of his, but he gave no specifics, not that I likely would've been able to understand the more delicate intricacies of it all."_

Which was very true – Hazel was far from ignorant and dumb, but his knowledge on science only went just a bit beyond the basics; any potential conversation Watts would've wanted to have on the more advanced and in-depth scientific concepts would've quickly gone above his head.

" _I don't know how long exactly he will be in there – he didn't give an indication on how long it would take him to do whatever it is he wishes to do. But he's made clear that once he's done, he will begin his operation,"_ Hazel mentally explained.

Once again, there was that unpleasant sensation as Salem 'nodded' in understanding and the immortal proceeded on. _"Very well then. I'll let him do what he must before the next part of the plan is to continue. Now then, with that out of the way… Hazel. Tell me: how do you feel about these changes you've been undergoing."_

That gave him pause. For just a few seconds, all he could do was close his eyes and reach out for the Grimm milling around in the forest. He felt them stir as his presence became known to them only to withdraw a split second later. He then opened his eyes and observed his own fists, which crackled with lightning and flames as he willed them to manifest.

"… _What do you mean exactly?"_

Salem chuckled, clearly amused, and that sound echoed within his very skull to a point where it felt like he was experiencing a bad case of vertigo. A lesser person would've passed out instantly from how terrible this invasive feeling is.

" _Surely you've wondered just what exactly is causing these changes in you. Just as I'm sure you've also been wondering how to make the most of these changes… as well as just how and why I've bothered contacting you this way."_

Hazel fell silent as Salem hit the nails right on their heads. From the sound of things, she clearly knew outright or at least had a very good and educated guess as to why this was so.

By all rights, he should just ask her outright, just stop bothering with this small talk. This was by no means a time for wordplay.

But instead he decided to play along still. Now was still not the time to pushing his luck with the immortal woman.

" _I've only really noticed these changes after injecting myself with Dust,"_ he began in as calm a voice as he could manage. _"But while that could explain away some of the changes I've been undergoing, this… this connection I've been developing with the Grimm, my growing overall power… that doesn't make sense so far."_

" _Oh? But it very much does, Hazel. To me at least."_

He growled aloud. _"May I ask for an explanation outright then?"_

Hazel could practically feel Salem's amusement now, irritating him that much more. But when she 'spoke' again, he was struck silent.

" _This telepathic ability of mine… it only works between those who possess magic."_

…

…

…What?

"That's not…" he spoke aloud in his moment of shock. "How can that…?"

How can that be? Ever since this second humanity came to be, the only one to possess magic outright was that damnable Ozpin in whatever new life he lived at first before eventually giving large portions of his magical power out to the four Maidens.

This was clearly due to his Dust injections, but how so? And just how is that responsible for his connection with the Grimm now?

Clearly sensing his confusion, Salem responded before he even 'said' anything. _"Did you never wonder the exact origins of Dust?"_

"… _Not particularly. I imagine many people don't question its origins too much at this point either."_ Such was his response. As far as anyone knew, Dust came from Dust mines and the like. Of course, how such things ever came to form in the first place was completely unknown too.

" _Back when I'd defied the God Brothers for the final time directly,"_ Salem began quietly. _"The God of Darkness, after wiping out the first version of humanity and leaving me to my fate, took his leave in quite a dramatic fashion; he turn himself into a beam of pure dark and magical power and literally blasted off, obliterating a significant portion of the moon in the process, hence the celestial object's current state._

" _But while his departure had indeed destroyed a portion of the moon, it hadn't been an absolute annihilation of said portion – there'd been fragments left behind that had then fallen to the world below, impacting all across the lands… and these fragments had ended up imbued with mere slivers of the God of Darkness' very essence itself. This essence then ended up seeping out gradually into sections of the lands themselves, eventually taking actual form-."_

" _-In the form of Dust,"_ Hazel finished for her. Normally, he nor anyone else would dare interrupt Salem when she was speaking. That he did so now was a sign of his growing shock.

Just like that, he'd learned the origins of Dust and what Dust really is – the God of Darkness along with the God of Light had been the ones to grant the first humanity the power of magic, a power that had been but a mere sliver of themselves for all intents and purposes. That same power had been accidentally left behind and bled out into the planet, eventually warping small sections of it into the very thing that the current global society used to power just about everything.

Given the inherent dangers of using Dust for more personal purposes, it was clear that magic didn't mix so well with aura, at least not when done without 'permission' as opposed to how Ozpin had bequeathed a majority of his power to the Maidens and potentially others.

And here, for many years on end, he'd been going and directly taking in magical power that had come directly from the God of Darkness himself… who'd also been the one to create the Grimm and the pools of destruction too…

…?

But wait… now that he thought of it… wouldn't that mean there was then a direct connection between magic and the Grimm too?

It was a good thing he'd been sitting down, for this sudden information overload was causing him to lose control over his own body from the sheer weight of it all.

He had so, so many questions, so many in fact that he literally didn't even know how to start anymore or how long it'd even take to get all the answers he now so desperately wished to know.

As his mind wandered further down this rabbit hole, he was roused from his stupefied state as Salem once more laughed at his reaction…

…Before she then said something that truly froze him for good.

" _Congratulations, Hazel… it would seem now… that you're becoming something similar to me."_

* * *

 **And that's a wrap! Yeah, as you can see, Jaune nor his friends didn't make an appearance in this chapter and for the simple reason that it would've just ended up being a rehash of what was already established in the last chapter due to not much time having passed at all.**

 **Next chapter however will be a different case since Jaune will be taking centerstage again on his new self-imposed quest alongside his friends… in addition to the machinations of other characters now becoming more apparent in their lives.**

 **Now, that said, what do you think of the info dumps in this chapter? Hope it cleared up any confusion that any of you might have had about certain things.**

 **Don't think though that I've tipped my hand completely, however – there's still plenty of surprises in store, plenty more twists and reveals both big and small to come.**

 **Oh, and expect magic to continue being made more versatile as this fic goes on, because seriously in canon, its only advantage over semblances is sheer firepower... and apparently being able to turn people into birds too and that's kind of lame in my opinion considering just how versatile semblances appear to be in comparison.**

 **I just hope you all will look forward to it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!**


	41. Chapter 41

Recently, I bought Fate/Extella Link for my PS4 and I have to say, it was a surprisingly fun experience. Already have about 40 hours invested into it, will probably have close to 50 hours by the time I get every trophy for it. Normally, not too big a fan of the whole musou gaming genre, but this has been surprisingly rewarding in a way.

A bit of a pity the general roster of Servants aren't really among my most favorite ones, barring EMIYA and Scathach, though Charlemagne grew on me pretty quickly as did Karl.

How about you guys? Aside from FGO, any other Type Moon games any of you have played? I'm curious to know.

Well, other than that, not much else to say other than that I'm continuing to soldier through the quarantine as is everyone else. But the company I'm a part of is apparently starting to reopen some stores so if things go well on that front then perhaps my furlough will come to an end within the next few months and I can return to work. Would be nice if that happens, if only to see my coworkers again; they made my time there enjoyable.

Anyways, time for the chapter!

Chapter 41

Jaune hefted up the blade with a great deal of interest, inspecting the masterful craftmanship of it down to the very last detail.

"So, how does it feel to have a new blade, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked him as she watched him.

"Feels great, to be honest," he answered immediately as he lowered the sword. "Though the blacksmith didn't have to go this far…"

"Hmm?"

Jaune moved closer to her and showed her his new sword. "See the groove alongside the blade's edge? It's meant to hold Dust in it, that way when I swing, it could have additional effects depending on what type of Dust is used."

Pyrrha hummed, interested. But as interested as she looked, she narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But you've never used Dust before, right? And why would the blacksmith include such a feature if you never requested it?"

"Apparently, the guy I requested to work on this is known to go an extra mile on his works, often for the better," Jaune replied with a shrug. The Dust component had been a surprise when he'd first opened the container it'd been shipped to him in but it wasn't an unpleasant surprise. That said… "But, well, I've tried to use Dust before when I first started out, but it never really went anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I tried using Dust, the results would be incredibly explosive," he started. "No matter how much I tried to regulate my aura at the time, it would always make the Dust unstable to the point of immediately making it explode in my face… so, I can only hope doing so with this blade won't result in my new sword's destruction…"

Pyrrha patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Your strength and control has grown a lot since then, so the results should hopefully be better this time around."

Jaune smiled at her. "Thanks… but for now, I'll hold off on trying that function out. Now, that all said…"

Pyrrha nodded.

It was time to go.

It's been several days since he'd spoken to his friends of what he intended to do, a self-imposed quest that they'd be joining him on. Most conveniently, his new blade had arrived just earlier today, just in time to begin their search for Hazel Rainart and whomever his accomplices may be.

But the even better news was Yang's release from the hospital. Thanks to the hospital staff's care and her aura, she'd managed to make a full recovery with only a minor scar in the end, but compared to the fact she could've easily lost her life, it was but a small price to pay.

Though the number of puns and jokes about her and him being 'scar buddies' was arguably a huge price to pay for him, heh. Ah, well, it was all in good humor. It wasn't as if he'd ever really been too bothered by his own scar, at least not the scar in and of itself.

But he was digressing.

Having kept the sheathe of his previous blade, he placed his new blade in it and strapped it to his waist, the weight feeling most comfortable to him. That he could even appreciate something as minor as this was yet another sign of his growth from how he was like all those weeks and months ago.

But again, he was digressing.

"Let's go."

Ren and Nora were already out in the city, having gone out in advance to relax, well, in the case of Nora, that is. RWBY was already out there as well. He was still here in Beacon because of his sword being delivered here and Pyrrha had in turn wished to stay by his side.

Sending out a mass message to them as he and his partner boarded the bullhead, Jaune went over for the millionth time all the info he could recall about his encounters with Hazel.

Putting together a psychological profile of the man, he did his best to determine a spot where they could begin their search.

From what he could tell, Hazel was something of a misanthrope, being far too jaded with people to tolerate being around crowds for very long, not unless there was a damn good reason for him to do so. Thus, he could easily write off any and all spots that could be used as bases near downtown Vale – too many people for the man's liking and he doubted whatever eccentricities his allies may have would be enough to make him reconsider that.

Given the rather tame outfit Hazel wore too, he came across as an inherently practical man who preferred blending in with the wilds over standing out like how most others do – no offense meant to his friends on that front, what with their colorful wardrobes. This was something Jaune could truly respect though given his own plain but practical clothes. That said, he doubted the man and his allies would be hiding out past the walls of Vale – certainly, thanks to Hazel's presumed expertise and fondness for staying out in the wildlands, to say nothing of how many areas they could set up a makeshift base at, Jaune highly doubted that would be something the man would do for whatever operation is at work here.

For one thing, constantly sneaking in and out of Vale, especially with all the chaos recent events have caused, would be heavily impractical and risky. Even though Jaune was more than certain Hazel could effortlessly fight his way past any defense force, drawing attention was not something the man would prefer, especially given the fact this operation he was a part of was clearly covert in nature. Plus, while he may be perfectly comfortable out in the wilds, there was no guarantee his allies were the same and depending on what sort of activities they had to get up to in order to carry out their goals, building and maintaining whatever necessary tech they needed would be even more impractical out there in the wild.

Thus, they would still be somewhere within the kingdom itself, just not anywhere near densely populated areas.

Jaune did entertain for a moment the possibility of Hazel and his accomplices making use of the abandoned sectors of Vale, much like how Roman Torchwick and his White Fang crew had done, but tentatively dismissed this thought – such areas seemed too obvious a choice and though said zones were far from small, given any reasonable amount of time, they'd eventually be located and Hazel seemed too cunning to not account for that, to say nothing again of whatever the man's accomplices may have in mind.

He voiced all this Pyrrha quietly as the two of them rode the bullhead from Beacon into Vale and she nodded along, agreeing with his analysis. It wasn't until after they'd landed and disembarked that she spoke up, after making sure they weren't at any risk of being overheard.

"Jaune, not to sound like an alarmist," she began. "But what about hiding somewhere… closer? Like in Forever Falls or even the forest around Beacon? Though certainly not necessarily within Vale itself, making trips to and from Vale back to either of those areas should be easy enough for him, especially if they've some connections to help move things along."

…That hadn't been something he'd considered. He gave it some serious thought, rubbing his chin as he tried to put himself in Hazel's shoes for a minute.

Indeed, the best place to hide sometimes was literally under the enemy's nose and one can't get much closer to Beacon than the forest where initiation was held. Forever Falls, while considerably further out, was also still just close enough to be a place overlooked.

But after a minute, he came to a conclusion and voiced it. "It's possible," he said. "But unlikely. For one thing, the general direction he'd attacked me from and later appeared to take off in at the end of our recent fight led deeper into Vale rather than in either forests' direction. He could've been doing that just to throw off any pursuit, but taking into account his mysterious ability with the Grimm, I don't think setting up any kind of camp in either location would be ideal – too many Grimm there and any sudden changes in their behavior would be immediately noticeable. Not to say him being there wouldn't be impossible, but it'd be too risky for him to do so."

Pyrrha nodded. "Okay, makes sense… but do keep that in mind as a precaution."

"I will."

The two of them ventured into Vale, preparing to meet with the others. But as they headed towards their agreed upon meeting place, they suddenly received a message from Blake.

Looking at their scrolls at the same time, Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look before making a beeline elsewhere.

Some odd number of minutes later, they arrived at a nice grill/bar place and headed inside. As soon as they did, they headed for the furthest corner away from the front, where RWBY along with Nora and Ren could be spotted.

All of them appeared to be eating… and not alone at that, either.

"…Tukson?" Jaune murmured out as he and his partner got much closer, looking at the man in question.

The puma Faunus smiled a little in greetings and nodded. "You two haven't eat yet, right? Then take a seat and consider this my treat. Hope you don't mind if I already placed orders for you."

"No, not at all," Jaune said as he first pulled back a chair at the table and held it out for Pyrrha to be seat. As she sat in it – her face slightly red for some reason – and he gently pushed her in, he continued. "But… I take it you didn't suddenly call us all here for a quiet dinner."

"You got that right, Mr. scarface," Yang quipped to him from her spot in between Tukson and Ruby, the latter digging into a positively huge steak. Given the sheer delight upon the younger leader's face, it must be a damn good steak considering her usual preference for sweets. "Blake here got a sudden call from him about ten minutes or so ago, requesting a meet up. We called up Ren and Nora and then Blake sent you two that message. He's got some juicy info to share, apparently."

Sitting in between his partner and Ren, who nodded at him in greetings, Jaune looked around the table, noting the otherwise serious expressions upon everyone's faces. "Okay… then, shall we just get to the point then?"

Tukson nodded as he ate some grilled shrimp and then scooted the grilled lobster plate that'd been in the center of the huge table. "Dig in a little first – this'll be a doozy." He then took another plate placed near the table's center and gave it to Pyrrha, who generously accepted it.

And so Jaune obliged, not unappreciative of the sudden dinner invite, but admittedly thrown off by it.

Several minutes go by in which everyone ate and made random small talk – "Yang, no stealing from my plate!" "Aw, come on, Rubes! You've any idea how badly I've missed real food from my hospital stay?! – before finally, Tukson was the first to get right to the point.

And with a hell of an opening at that too.

He chugged his beer with great enthusiasm before then looking them all in the eyes with a stone-faced expression and spoke.

"Adam Taurus is dead."

That got everyone to stop what they were doing, especially Blake.

"W-What…?!" Blake nearly yelled out, just barely able to keep the volume to that of a fierce whisper. Not that it would've been too big an issue if she did scream due to how empty this place was right now. "How?! When did this happen?!""

Tukson sighed as he picked away at whatever food was left on his plate. "Someone complained of a horrible smell in a nearby alleyway, police went to investigate, found some very small traces of blood here and there. Adam's DNA is on file thanks to how coldly efficient the SDC's systems are like and so when an analysis was done, a match came up."

At that, Weiss winced greatly.

"Uh, sorry, but what does that mean?" Nora of all people asked, looking confused. "What do you mean he was already on file or whatever?"

It was Blake who responded. "…Adam was once captured by the SDC's forces and made to slave away for them for a time in his youth. The labor settlements the SDC has set up does all sorts of tests on the Faunus workers – urine testing, blood tests, so on and so forth – all to know just how healthy every new 'worker' is… and thus so that they know how far they can afford to push them before the workers become unable to continue on any longer. Everything is kept on file as a result. It was during his time there that… that he got branded over his left eye…"

Everyone at the table was dead silent, horrified by what she'd just said. Yang silently clasped Blake on the shoulder and Blake reached up and gripped her hand tightly.

Jaune was far from oblivious as to how badly Faunus can and have been treated, but even then, he couldn't help but grimace intensely. It's things like that that make the existence of the radicalized White Fang that much more understandable.

Tukson looked down towards the table for a moment, apparently mourning the deceased man. This lasted for only a moment though and when he looked back up, he continued. "…Adam may not have been a good man anymore, but it wasn't as if he'd always been that way. Anyways… this was a discovery made by the police only recently. I found out through some connections and liberal usage of my snooping skills. Don't know if or when this info will be made public, but probably not soon – with how crazy things have been lately, I doubt the council will want to incite the public any more."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, clearly confused by that. "I mean, not to sound cold or anything-," she continued hastily. "-but isn't it a good thing from the public's perspective that the person behind the attack won't be launching another attack ever again?"

Even as she said that, it's clear the way Adam was ultimately stopped didn't sit well with the still somewhat idealistic girl, but the fact she could even say such a thing aloud meant she understood just a bit more how the world sadly works.

"True as that may be, there's going to be those that'll be angry Adam wasn't killed during the attack itself or that the man should've been captured, beaten and then killed first," Tukson replied. "Thing about news like this, you're going to get those that are just glad it's over and done with and then you'll get those who'll just find something to be mad about anyways. News is always a huge outlet for positive and negative emotions. This will be no different. But more than that, with the fact the White Fang was the one to attack city hall public knowledge, there will be a cry from the radicals about how this is how 'animals should be dealt with' and other shit like that. Naturally, Faunus citizens aren't going to just take that kind of talk lying down. It'll be yet another shit show and the council knows it, which is why this is being kept under the rug for the time being."

The man then finished off what was left of his food and then looked to Jaune. "But I hadn't just gathered you lot just to say this. Blake had let me know of what you're intending to do, of searching for the ones that also had a hand in all that's been happening recently."

Blake looked at Jaune apologetically, but Jaune just kindly waved it off. If anything, in hindsight, he should've asked her to get in contact with Tukson somehow. After all, the man was very skilled at gathering info. His help was very well priceless.

"I'd actually gotten in contact with her just to check on her pretty much the day after you'd told your friends here of what you intended to do. A stroke of dumb luck really, me calling her when I did, but a damn good one. Anyways, since then, I've been doing some digging in the hopes of narrowing down your potential search field some more," Tukson said.

Jaune leaned forward, hopeful. So did many of the others.

"Oooh, did you find the bad guys' secret base?!" Nora quietly but no less excitedly asked.

Yang laughed. "Damn, if that really is the case, want to solve all our other problems too?"

Tukson snorted in response to Yang's words, but then shook his head apologetically. "Sadly, couldn't outright find their base, but I did manage to narrow the general search area a bit. Here, take a look." He then pulled out his scroll and brought up a map of the entire kingdom, albeit one that's clearly been modified by him, sporting various areas being colored in either blue, orange, and red. "The blue areas are the areas that I'm absolutely certain they wouldn't be holed up in. A guy as big as the one you're talking about wouldn't go unnoticed not even with how colorful people can be nowadays. The orange areas are possible locations but it's this big area in red that's where they're most likely to be."

"Based on what evidence?" Weiss asked as she leaned in to get a better look at the map.

"Nothing solid per say, but just basic logic," Tukson freely admitted. "The blue areas are areas most populated by people. Whether this be due to the areas being nothing but shops and businesses or residential areas, the point is there are a lot of people in these locations. With all that's recently happened, people are unbelievably jumpy. Trust me, I've seen it for myself – people getting so freaked out over the most sudden but minor of noises that everyone is on high alert if any door is slammed a bit too hard. Cops have been called out there a lot recently to check for every disturbance only for it to turn out it was just a wild dog or possum scurrying through the area or just some idiotic and insensitive punks trying to get a laugh at everyone's expense. If anything truly suspicious did happen, there's literally no way it wouldn't be unnoticed."

Tukson then motioned towards the orange areas. "As for these areas, they tend to be a bit more open in terms of space, with less people living there or traveling by or through these locales. A fair few empty buildings where they could hole up in for a long time, especially if these people you're looking for are a very small crew. That said, some gangs and the other unsavory sort do tend to make homes here, and while they won't exactly be calling the police for help if they do spot something off, again, it's not going to be as if they'll go unspotted and unconfronted."

"Then I take it the red area is where there's much more open space and even less people to bother them," Ren suddenly spoke up after studying the map himself.

Tukson nodded. "Pretty much. But it's kind of ironic though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look at the map again," Tukson replied. "What do you see about that area?"

They all looked back at it.

It was Yang who caught on first. "Hey, wait a minute… isn't that where a lot of those fancy hotels and the like are at? Like, you know, for visiting celebrities and other big-wigs?"

Jaune blinked as he realized that was indeed the case. Not to put things the way Yang had, but that area was one of the better parts of Vale in terms of sheer financial investment and overall spectacle, with massive high rises and much smaller but no less equally well-crafted structures. Even the small businesses there that profit heavily from the affluent customers the area provides them with make even the best upscale places here in this part of Vale look cheap in design in comparison.

And amazingly, it made a lot of sense as why Tukson would consider this area to be one of great interest.

And sure enough, Tukson ended up elaborating. "That's exactly right. Lots of gated little areas within this location, high walls, personal security, so on and so forth. It's practically its own city there."

"And just why would the bad guys be hiding there?" Ruby asked, more confused than ever before.

"Compared to the rest of Vale, the population there isn't really that impressive since only the richest of the rich can really afford to be there for any stretch of time, so the number of people there is pretty sparse. These people also tend to mind their own business to a ridiculous degree and for all their security, it's mainly just to make sure no one unwanted gets too close to them. They're not looking out for people planning to topple Vale or whatever; they're just keeping an eye out to make sure no one bugs them during whatever things they get up to in their free time. If a gunshot ever went off there, no one is going to be rushing out their doors to try and look for where it originated from – they'll just hole up in their residences and let someone else take a look, except no one else except the cops would do so."

"But won't their security go and look?"

"Only if it whatever's going on is close enough to their employer's place to warrant a look. Otherwise, it's not really their problem in their eyes," Tukson answered. "Not to make it sound like everyone there are self-centered assholes or whatever, but it's just the general mentality there. So long as your bad guys aren't going around toeing the residents' and hotels' property lines, they're not gonna even glance their way."

Jaune was nodding along with everything Tukson was saying. But more than that, this area was also within running distance – well, for people with aura, that is – of downtown Vale, where city hall is at. Additionally, while a bit further out, making it to even places like Beacon from there wouldn't be out of the question.

But even more importantly, it wasn't uncommon for a lot of the wealthier people to have their own private aircrafts. Whether they're capable of piloting the aircrafts themselves or if they've hired pilots to fly them to and from places was irrelevant; the point was that, with the right connections, finding an aircraft to get them in and out of Vale would be easy for one of Hazel's associates, judging by all the subterfuge.

That Hazel had even said Adam Taurus' sect of the White Fang had been a useful bunch, implying that whatever group he is a part of has the power and connections needed to sync their actions perfectly with the attack on city hall, which in turn would imply that at the very least, there'd been some level of coordination between the two groups.

And if Hazel's group could somehow get in contact with and use a part of the White Fang like that, then figuring out a way to root themselves in even a place like upscale Vale shouldn't be impossible. Plus, a locale like that would be the last place anyone would look for someone like Hazel.

It was perfect!

"Tukson," Jaune began as he started to stand. "Thank you. This really did help out a lot. Now, I'd say it's about time we get going. With any luck, we could probably at least find their base of operations. Even if they don't end up being there themselves, sabotaging their base would go a long ways towards accomplishing something of note."

Everyone got a little surprised by how quickly he was getting up and ready to leave and they all hastily began to follow his example – only for Tukson to stop them.

"Just one last thing," the man began, seemingly unbothered by Jaune's sudden readiness in leaving. "Don't know what exactly the connection would be between what I'm about to say and your bad guys, assuming there's a connection at all, but…"

"What is it?" Blake asked. "Has something else happened?" She sounded horribly worried, understandably so.

The man nodded gravely. "Now, I'm still trying to dig into things, but from what I can tell, it looks like someone managed to sneak aboard general Ironwood's flagship," he said. "Now before you ask the details and the like, again, I'm still looking into things. All I can say is that a few days back, I took the risk of strolling around for a walk late at night… and though only very slightly, I spotted what looked like a very small aircraft making its way towards the Atlas fleet."

"…Are you sure?" Weiss asked, looking somewhat doubtful. "If this aircraft did belong to someone with bad intentions, I doubt whoever it was could've made it through the entire Atlas fleet and onboard the general's flagship just like that."

Tukson could only shrug. "Honestly, even I kind of doubt what I saw – the main reason I say it was a ship is due to how the very air seemed to shimmer, like looking at a mirage or something. If not for the night vision that comes with being a Faunus, I doubt I would've been able to even notice this oddity at all. And the reason why I believe it to have been a ship at all is due to that being the most logical explanation since it's not as if anyone has the power to fly like a comic book superhero." He then looked to Blake and then to Jaune. "Now, with everything that's been going on, well, I just can't help but feel it might be somehow related to these people you're trying to find… and if by chance that is the case, then be even more careful – if they've what it takes to infiltrate any Atlas ship without setting off any alarms, then that says something pretty scary not just about their capabilities but what else they may be aiming to do."

That definitely got everyone to stop what they were doing and consider Tukson's words. But just like before, Jaune was the first to move, nodding in response to this additional bit of info. "We'll keep this in mind. Thank you, Tukson."

The man nodded back and silently bid them goodbye as he could clearly see they all were still very much keen on seeing this through to the end. "Consider this sudden dinner a weird sort of good luck charm, then."

Thanking him once more – this time for the free meal – Jaune took his leave and with his friends quickly following after him, though not before Blake took a quick second to bid the older Faunus goodbye with a brief hug.

And just like that, they were now officially on the hunt.

* * *

It was with a great deal of effort that Hazel sat right where he was. Even though it's been a few days since his sudden 'talk' with Salem, he was still reeling from everything that had happened. To now know not just the origins of Dust, but to also be informed that he was now becoming some kind of… some kind of magical-esque being that was also similar to what Salem was like… it would be an understatement to say that he was boggled by that information.

On the one hand, it certainly did explain why his already abnormal strength was still growing, to say nothing of his new abilities and the like. However, even Salem's brief explanation had failed to inform of the 'why' behind it all.

Why was it that him essentially taking in magic was giving him Grimm-like abilities, like the ability to sense negativity and his ability to control at least some Grimm? Was this just because Dust was essentially a direct offshoot from the God of Darkness himself, who'd personally made the Grimm and pools of destruction? Or was there some other reason for this oddity?

Considering the lost history Salem had shared with him and the others when they'd first been recruited by her, the reason for these specific changes in him couldn't possibly be due to the former possibility because then that would mean just about any of the previous magic wielders back then would've possibly been able to develop these Grimm-like traits. This would naturally even include that bastard Ozpin and those Maidens since they too count as magic wielders. That they didn't thus proved that first possibility wrong.

Grunting as he wracked his brain over this all, Hazel opted to just stand up. He wasn't one to pace about, but his thoughts were so screwed up and his heart felt so heavy that he had to do _something_.

Alas, as much as he wished to head elsewhere and perhaps find some way to vent his chaotic emotions, he couldn't.

Ever since his fruitful return from Ironwood's flagship, Watts had holed up in a room within this safehouse to tinker with that Eternal Motor of his, tweaking certain functions that the former Atlas scientist had been quick to label as 'too inefficient.' Apparently, all these years spent dwelling on his prized creation had resulted in Watts constantly critiquing his own work from back then and the man had been all too eager to correct these 'deficiencies.' This made sense since it was a prototype, after all. Plus, Watts had had no problem also telling him that his battle with Jaune Arc had been quite inspiring. Evidently, something about the power fluctuations and the like that had been going on during their battle had provided Watts with interesting data that he was using to try and further improve on the Eternal Motor.

But this tinkering was not why Hazel had to stick around, for said tinkering had already been over and done with as of yesterday morning, the result of Watts' sleepless efforts.

Instead the reason why Hazel had to at least stay so close was due to the man now taking today of all days to install the Eternal Motor within himself, which required replacing his own heart with the device in question.

Yes, that's right – Watts was conducting a particularly dangerous surgical operation on himself and was doing so in yet another room this vast safehouse had.

That the man had obsessed over his invention so much as to personally construct from scratch a room just for this day was truly amazing in all sorts of ways and not exactly good ways. Not that Hazel was one to talk concerning obsession, but he at least could say he'd never pump himself full of drugs to dull whatever pain and worries he may have just to remove his own heart and all that.

Just how was Watts intending to remove his own heart and keep himself alive long enough afterwards to implant the Eternal Motor within himself and essentially revive? Hazel couldn't even begin to fathom how such a thing could ever be possible. He doubted even the most knowledgeable and experienced surgeons in all of Remnant could figure out a way to do so considering the obviously mechanical nature of the Eternal Motor as well as the fact that Watts was doing this surgery all by himself.

Even when accounting for all the semi-automated machinery Watts had long since built for a day like this, there was just no telling how well the man would be able to perform this endeavor all on his lonesome.

As he distracted himself now with thoughts of Watts' ridiculous and borderline suicidal operation, Hazel looked towards the nearest clock.

From what he understands, operations concerning the heart can take anywhere from three hours to approximately six hours from start to finish. Watts had informed him he could have the operation done within half that general time length…

…And it's already nearing three and a half hours since the operation had apparently begun, as the blinking red light Watts had been thoughtful enough to install back when he first modeled this safehouse to his liking could attest to.

Though unlikely, there was always a possibility of Ozpin and his inner circle figuring out their location somehow. Obviously, if that did end up being the case and were to occur now of all times, then Watts would definitely be in no position to defend himself and escape. Hence why Hazel had been asked by the man to be on standby just outside the room – to act as protection just in case such a thing did happen. Also, to come barreling into the room in case the operation went badly and Watts needed to be transported elsewhere.

Personally, Hazel very highly doubted such a thing happening – Ozpin and his allies locating, much less storming this place, that is. With all the chaos that has struck Vale over recent weeks, not even Ozpin would take his time dillydallying around if he were to learn of their location, not when there would be no way the parasite and his inner circle could know of what else could possibly be coming up soon.

No, if anything, Watts' self-done operation failing seemed like a much more likely possibility…

…But that said, it also wasn't the only potential bad thing that could happen.

"Jaune Arc…" Hazel growled out.

Call it a gut feeling, but the large man held a not altogether unfounded belief that if anyone was to somehow stumble across him and Watts to ruin their day, it would be that blond teen. And if that were to happen before Watts' operation was done, there'd be absolutely no chance of Hazel being able to extract the man safely during that potential chaos, especially not if the teen manages to call in reinforcements.

Then, as if somehow reading his thoughts and detecting the general uneasiness he was feeling, the blinking light directly above the door turned from red to green.

It would appear the operation had been a success, Hazel thought with some measure of relief. The reason why he could afford to feel such relief at all is because, just prior to basically sealing himself inside the room, Watts had informed him that the system in charge of the light was directly connected to the system monitoring the status of the operation itself. Thus, so long as things were going okay, the light would silently flash red. If the surgery failed and Watts was dying for good or was dead already, an alarm would sound as the light turns permanently red. And of course, should things go well, the light shall flash green instead.

But as relieved as he felt, Hazel didn't suddenly rush into the room or anything. For one thing, while he and Watts got along quite well, it wasn't as if they were brothers in arms or anything of the sort, so his care for the man didn't extend to the point of rushing in to check on him. For another thing, Watts had also stressed the importance of letting him just rest in peace after the operation – even if the surgery was successful, all that meant was that the Eternal Motor had been properly implanted within him. There was still very much a chance of his body rejecting the device, or for whatever connection between the Eternal Motor and body to just break down through some other way.

In other words, Watts isn't quite out of the danger zone just yet. That said, the man hadn't specified how long exactly it would take to determine if things were going to be okay or not. Given the info Watts had told him of concerning the Eternal Motor and its intended workings, Hazel was assuming the results would show themselves within the hour or so, if only due to the outlandishly sci-fi nature of the Eternal Motor, but for all he knew, it'll be days or weeks before finding out if Watts' efforts would pay off.

Grimacing as he now pondered what would become of his accomplice's actions, Hazel slowly made his way back to where he'd been sitting before, but not before tossing one quick glance back at the door as if expecting Watts to stroll out right now.

As he did this, he closed his eyes and reluctantly expanded his newfound senses.

As tiring and frustrating and honestly disturbing as it was to now be able to sense other people's negativity, it did make for a far-spanning 'radar.' If anyone got just a bit too close to the safehouse for his liking or lingered in one place for too long, the man would be able to sense them well in advance.

Thoughts of Jaune Arc possibly coming around and finding them now returned to the forefront of his mind and lightning crackled ever so slightly across his forearms and flickers of fire appeared out of the corners of his mouth as he exhaled.

Whatever may possibly come next, he would be ready for.

* * *

Of all the things Ruby had been expecting to do today, strolling through the nicer part of Vale – the much, much, _much_ nicer part of it, holy moly, how could people be this rich? – in search of some very bad people hadn't been high on the list of expectations.

But man, she felt cool doing just that-.

"Oh, Ren, look! Look at that ice cream!"

-Even if currently, it seemed like she and her friends were all just hanging out and window shopping, with Nora practically leaping around upon finding some super fancy ice cream shop that they could see through the window of.

Not that she was complaining because that ice cream – several different types of cookies blended with traditional vanilla ice cream?! Where has she been all this time?! – but she was trying to look around for anything out of the ordinary.

But funny thing, that – 'ordinary' was a lot harder to define in this part of Vale, if only due to how, well, how darn expensive and extravagant this area was. She always considered herself a pretty humble girl, the bee's knees, and that her family was well-off enough without being either rich or poor, but whoa, strolling down even a single street here made her feel dirt poor.

And with only a few exceptions – Nora among them – the rest of her friends were looking uncomfortable too.

"Yeesh, you think they pay cleaning crews to shine the streets too while they're at it?" Yang quipped, her normally lively big sis looking almost worried to take a particularly big step forward upon the squeaky-clean sidewalk.

"And I thought Atlas indulged in such luxuries…" Ruby heard Blake mumble, making the leader of RWBY wince a bit. Though Blake had really come a long way since they all first met, the girl still had a lot of traits that had remained unchanged since then, her general disdain for such over the top luxuries being one of those traits apparently. Given what Ruby has heard about Atlas and its towering and glittery structures, Ruby was pretty sure this place did resemble that kingdom somewhat.

"A-Atlas isn't that bad…" Weiss muttered.

Blake turned and looked at her, eyebrow raised in obvious skepticism.

Weiss sighed. "Okay, perhaps Atlas is just a bit too… excessive regarding its appearance."

Ruby couldn't help but laugh a bit. Though they were all here on a very important (self-imposed) mission, it was nice to just be able to goof around a bit and have some fun, even if she felt like she was gonna get sued for millions of lien if she so much as scratched a brick or car door by accident.

She knew she was pretty naïve, but not so much so that she was oblivious to economical disparity. Just traveling from Patch to Vale and seeing overhead just how big Vale was and all the things it had to offer made it clear to her even back then that Patch will never ever be anywhere near as big as Vale, not in size or sheer wealth. And that was a-okay in her book, but the point still stood that she knew there would always be differences like that.

But still, yeesh, this was more than a bit much.

Just how can people be this rich?!

She shook her head. No, this wasn't the time to be thinking of stuff like this! They had a job to do!

…Except it was quickly turning out to be a pretty tough job already.

"Uhm, guys?" she started sheepishly. "Just how are we going to narrow down our search field any more than it already is? I mean, if all the warehouses and other locations look anywhere near as good as these small shops do, it'll be hard to just figure out which one is worth investigating."

Though addressed to all her friends, it was primarily addressed to the ones she'd considered the exceptions just a moment ago.

In this case, that being Weiss, who was used to all this needless extravagance due to being from Atlas, Pyrrha, who despite not being from a place like Atlas, was used to being invited to all sorts of cool places so this area wasn't too big a shocker for her… though she did look just a tad bit uncomfortable with how crazy expensive this place looked with all the clearly custom carved stone and metal and shiny stuff.

But, of course, she was mainly directing her question at Jaune, who was once again proving how awesome he is by keenly surveying all he sees without so much as even blinking at the crazier things around here like the custom heart shaped rims on a nearby car or the veritable lights show that were the neon signs above the shops and huge hotels that could probably be seen from space.

"You've a point there, Ruby," Pyrrha responded first, a small but clearly strained smile on her face as she walked the streets with them. They were not the only people out and about at this time of day and it would seem that even among these ridiculously well-dressed men and women that Pyrrha's fame as a four time champion was known to them for quite a few people were looking her way unabashedly. "Considering too that they appear to have their own aircraft or at least easy access to one, you'd think that just finding a spot big enough to land such a thing would help narrow things down too… but no."

And wasn't that just another kicker? As they wandered about, she and the others have spotted several strips of land pretty much dedicated to various celebrities' and corporate head honchos' persona aircrafts, which meant narrowing down the search area some more based on that would be pretty much impossible. To further add to their troubles, when they'd gone to these little airfields to ask about any oddities they may have seen – she knows it was pointed out earlier that people here tend to mind their own business, but it never hurts to ask around – they were either shooed away by snobby guards and people or those that were willing to talk with them for a minute really did have no clue about anything out of the ordinary.

So yeah, rock and a hard place here. Ruby wasn't a fan of it.

She really didn't want to be too reliant on Jaune either – as a team leader herself, it would one day be up to her to be able to be just as efficient at this kind of stuff too. Not to say that learning all she can from others wasn't a bad thing, it's just that she couldn't help but feel as though she and the others were being a bit too dependent on the blond leader to provide a direction for them.

Alas, she had to ask him. "How about you, Jaune?"

And bless her fellow leader's heart, he never seemed annoyed by all the questions she and others asked him and even with how much more he seemed to lighten up nowadays, he was still just as willing to help as always.

That said, she didn't expect him to smile sheepishly in her direction. "Wish I had something to really add here, but I'm afraid I don't. We've already gone over all the points relevant to our efforts here. All we can do is just do our best."

"Huh. So, not even you can just think up an immediate solution," Yang commented, having overheard her and Jaune speak. Her comment wasn't mean-spirited or anything, but just a point of observation being made. Ruby knew that, but even then couldn't help but feel like her big sis was being kind of mean.

Before she could pout and try to tell Yang off though, Jaune just chuckled lightly. "This area is just as new to me as it is to you."

Yang shrugged, totally cool with his response. "Eh, no biggie, Mr. scarface. Guess we should just focus on the warehouses and stuff though, right? Since that seems to be the go-to base for criminals. Even in an area as stupidly fancy as this one, that has to still apply."

Her words were partly serious but also partly spoken in jest.

It was Ren who then spoke up, taking the Y of RWBY completely seriously. "It would seem that way. But what if they're instead hiding out inside one of these apartment complexes or hotels? Given the general nature of celebrities and the like, it's not as if they're going to live right next to where they keep their vehicles – land or air-based – parked."

"That's… actually a good point," Weiss spoke up. From the sound of it, it would seem like Weiss had been about to refute that statement only to realize otherwise.

Ruby decided to comment on that. "Uhm, is that really something rich people do, Weiss?" Ruby asked innocently enough, genuinely curious about that.

Weiss could only blush. "It's very common in Atlas for socialites rich enough to afford their own aircrafts to have said aircrafts placed somewhere off their property more often than not. My family is the same in this regard and often times, when my father felt like making an entrance, he'd have us arrive at an event via a personal bullhead… but only after having it first fly fifteen minutes to our estate just to pick us up."

…Wow. Rich people really are something, Ruby thought in amazement.

"Hmm, that is possible, but I kind of doubt it," Jaune suddenly said. "While not unlikely, if they need to mobilize quickly, it'd just be better to have their aircraft nearby very close by, at least relative to where their base is at. Even when accounting for how fast they can cover a certain amount of ground, it wouldn't be worth the risk if they're aiming on escaping before enemies could show up."

Aha, there was that super-cool intellect of his! And once again, Jaune was making a good point. Ruby found herself agreeing completely.

…Hmm, and come to think of it too…

"Didn't Tukson also say if not for his night vision, he would've missed it?" Ruby asked to no one in particular. "Wouldn't that mean it has some kind of cloaking device or something else that's super fancy?"

That got them all to slow in their walking for a brief second, even grabbing Nora's attention away from the shops finally too. Ruby inwardly gulped as they all looked her way, not liking being in the center of attention so suddenly, even if they are all friends.

"That… is true," Blake mumbled. "I'd assumed it was just a dark enough coat of pain to make it blend in better with the night sky, but Tukson did say there was a shimmer…"

"Couldn't that just be due to whatever thrusters or whatever it has?" Nora suddenly chipped in.

"Could be, but let's assume it was outright cloaking technology. In that case, if it's advanced enough, it would explain how this other criminal managed to sneak past all the radars the Atlas fleet has at its disposal and would make finding it impossible if it could remain active even in daylight," Weiss replied.

Yang grunted, annoyed. "Man, why is it these bad guys are so damn resourceful compared to literally every other punk that gives Vale trouble. They make even the White Fang look like chumps if that's really the case. No offense, Blake."

"None taken," her partner said. "If this is even half of what they're capable of, then considering what we now know… as dangerous as this is, we've even more reason now than ever to make sure they're found."

She referred to, of course, the guys they were after, the ones that were evidently working with that scary Salem person, some centuries old ruler of Grimm. Ruby still shuddered at the mere thought of a demon king-like figure existing. To know now that she had people working for her that could do all this was even scarier.

With just about everything that had to be said now spoken, they all fell into a deep silence, thinking over the situation more critically than ever before. Not even the increasingly gaudy looking stores, with their window displays, could appeal to them anymore, not even Nora.

An unspoken agreement was made between them all to continue their trek around the area where the warehouses appeared to be at. Though it pained Ruby's heart a bit that they'll have to sneak into the warehouses in just a bit, thereby breaking the law in the process, their current goal made it easy for her to resolve herself to break a minor law or two if it meant finding and hopefully stopping these guys.

After all, considering all the craziness that's happened recently and what they now know them to be capable of, there was just no time to lose being completely law-abiding.

The young girl could only their efforts will be rewarded, however.

* * *

Within the makeshift surgery room, there was not a single peep out of anything there save for the occasional whirring of machine parts in motion. Built by Watts long in advance for a day such as this, these machines had been responsible for removing his original heart and implanting the Eternal Motor in its former place. He's run countless simulations over all these years, both in his head and in reality whenever he'd had the chance to fiddle with such machinery thus said machinery had performed their intended duties perfectly.

That said, perfectly done or not, there had been a bit of a mess – some blood having spurt out here and there during the operation and coating the otherwise sterilized room. These machines, however, had also been programmed to clean up any such messes post-op and that is what they now did, hence why they were the only ones providing any sound.

And there, upon the sole table in the room, was a currently motionless Arthur Watts, naked from the waist up, looking for all the world as though he were sleeping… though the complete lack of movement on his part would make it seem as if he were actually dead.

However, the monitor set up to scan his brain activity indicated he was still very much alive, just in a deep sleep. As for the monitor in charge of scanning his other vitals, that one was having a hard time doing so as his new 'heart' had yet to begin its 'pumping.'

But that began to change in the following few minutes. Slowly but steadily, the neat surgical stiches done to close up his chest began to disappear along with the incision wound itself. And deep within the man's mind, where everything felt like it was at a standstill despite his brainwave scanner saying otherwise, Watts could 'hear' a whirring sound of sorts from within the very depths of his soul.

In particle experiments, technology was used to speed up observed particles, an action that led to an increase in kinetic energy. In the case of air particles, by heating an air sample, the particles are made to go faster due to the heat. In lieu of such an elaborate setting and obviously through a different method, his own blood which still coursed normally through his veins, entered his new 'heart,' thereby activating the Eternal Motor's functions.

Back when he'd first constructed the Eternal Motor, he'd infused some of his own aura into it, said aura acting as the accelerant needed for the particles within to begin their movements. Due to the aura then bonding to said particles in this process back then, the particles had kept on moving at increasing speeds, speeds that had produced an immense amount of energy and a small portion of that produced energy was used to speed the particles up even more, which produced even more energy that a portion of went to accelerating the particles some more and so on and so forth, resulting in a positive feedback.

To this day, the aura infused particles had yet to come to a stop, only producing more and more energy by the microsecond. This is how this small device was able to effortlessly power an entire Atlas flagship. And it was due to this perpetual activity that Watts' blood had continued its usual flow upon it being implanted in him.

Now with the blood, moved by the Eternal Motor, flowing through it and with its own minute movement adding to the activity already occurring with said device, the Eternal Motor only began to produce that much more power.

Steadily, the aura infused particles, which have multiplied within the Eternal Motor over these many years, began to slowly seep out of it and into and through the rest of Watts' body, each one containing more power than the last.

And now they were bonding directly to him, seeping down into the very core of his soul due to aura being but a mere manifestation of it.

The resulting reaction of this process made Watts' body go from deathly still to violent convulsions in a literal instant, so violent in fact that the table he lied upon began to twist and bend as a result.

In spite of this, his eyes remained closed and his expression eerily impassioned. Again, he was just in so deep a sleep that nothing quite reached him, not completely anyways.

But then, a moment later, the convulsions ceased and he let out a sudden and loud gasp. His green eyes snapped wide open, a faint glow in the very center of them that now quickly brightened, the intensity reaching a point that just by mindlessly looking at a bit of equipment off to the side was enough to make the wiring within it go nuts and literally set itself aflame from the power.

The veins in the very corner of his eyes had also become quite apparent and they too started to glow with power, the green color of his aura making itself known through a sudden pulse within them before fading away.

As this glow in both his veins and the center of his eyes faded, Watts suddenly sat up in one smooth and impossibly fast motion, so fast that if even a huntsman trainee had been there to observe, from their perspective it would seem as if one instant the man had been lying down and the very next he was up.

Slowly, he shifted about on the table so that his bare feet now rested slightly upon the floor whilst he held up his hands and inspected them as if all the answers in the universe were contained within his open and slightly shaky palms.

He looked for but a second before closing his eyes and concentrated – and in direct response to this act of concentration, something within _shifted._ A hum, audible only to himself, began to play out and as he willed his aura forth, he could literally feel the difference now.

Watts smiled in pure bliss. Absolutely nothing else in his life up until now had ever made him feel as good as he felt right in this very moment.

At last.

His time had finally come.

* * *

 **So what do you guys think? I know this chapter was very dialogue heavy, even in comparison to some of the more recent chapters, but it had to be done to set up what would come next. Set up aside though, I'd wished to once more demonstrate Jaune's intellect as well as showcase how good a grasp he has of Hazel's general personality, which will prove more useful down the line.**

 **As for his new blade, he won't quite be showing off its Dust feature just yet due to having just gotten it and having not expected it to have such a function, so it'll be a while before he does so. Additionally, he will be getting a Dust feature added to his other sword too in order to balance things out, but again that will wait until later. Consider what is coming next a way of merely introducing a new way of fighting from him, albeit slightly. Hope you will look forward to what I've in mind.**

 **On another note, what do you guys think of Watts' section? I tried to make how the Eternal Motor works in practice as logical as could be because even with the RWBY series running on the Rule of Cool, it never hurts to have certain mechanics explained, right? Anyways, do look forward to what Watts will now be capable of. I'm sure some of you will find pretty nuts, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!**


	42. Chapter 42

Hey there, everyone. Been a while, heh. Sorry about that, it's just that, well, things came up in my and my family's lives that demanded our attention for a while. We're still reeling from what happened, but with the quarantine still being a thing, there's really not much that can be done other than to continue doing what we've been doing up until now. It's just that for several days, it was hard working up the energy to write despite wanting to so badly, not with my thoughts being a mess and all that.

But I'm doing okay now and I was able to finish up the recent chapter for my novel, which definitely took some time to do. It proved exceptionally tough to do since I'm more or less at the climax of the novel and thus figuring out how best to proceed from there in a satisfactory manner proved very difficult for a number of reasons. That I'm almost done with it though is worth noting and hopefully I can have it done by July… though I'll still need to write out the third/final installment of the series too afterwards…

Anyways, all things considered, I'm doing better now as is my family over what happened. Me returning to writing at this point feels therapeutic so hopefully I can get more done in the near future.

Now then, onto the chapter.

Chapter 42

It was with lightning speed that Hazel's head snapped up from its previously drooping state as his eyes immediately locked onto the door leading into that surgery room of Watts'.

Though he hadn't sensed any negativity or anything else that should've been able to grab his attention, he'd still been able to just instinctively notice a shift in reality itself, it seemed like. Whether this was due to his many years of combat experience or something much more primal, he knew not, but what he did know is that Watts was up and at it.

Sure enough, not even a few seconds after thinking that, the man himself strode out of the room as he appeared to finish dressing himself again, looking nonetheless worse for wear despite having lied on a table for all that time.

Hazel said nothing as the man boldly strode across the room towards him. Rather, the big man couldn't bring himself to say anything; he was just too fixated on Watts himself.

Physically, he looked exactly the same as before. After all, it wasn't as if the surgery was meant to alter his looks in any way. But even though Watts looked the same as ever, Hazel couldn't help but almost unconsciously stare at the space above Watts' head. To him, it felt almost as if Watts' very presence was just… bigger somehow.

Again, though it couldn't actually be sensed, he could just tell that Watts was now brimming with power and confidence that he'd never had before.

"Hazel," the man of the hour greeted jovially. "My thanks for standing guard in case things went wrong."

Hazel let out a grunt in acknowledgement. "So," he began, choosing to address the main topic here. "It would seem your operation was completely successful… as was the bonding between you and your Eternal Motor."

Watts chuckled – no, more like laughed like a child – and held his arms wide open as though he was about to wrap them around something. "You could tell, hmm? But indeed, it worked like a charm. No, more than that – it worked out far better than I ever dared to dream!"

Watts looked at his hands now and Hazel narrowed his eyes as he then observed Watts' eyes seemingly glow, crackling with unbridled power. "I can feel it, Hazel. Power gushing out from within me and yet it seeps down into the very crevices of my soul… what an odd but pleasant feeling!"

"Afraid I can't relate," Hazel grumbled out, thought not quite unkindly. If anything, he could almost appreciate the contrast between Watts' reaction to this newfound power and his own reaction to these changes in him. Whereas he still looked upon these changes to himself in considerable worry, Watts was clearly loving every second of his changes so far.

Watts chuckled genuinely at his remark and then walked past him. "Truly, James and those other fools back in Atlas have no idea what they've missed out on… but I shall make sure they learn well from this mistake of theirs." His eyes once more crackled and pulsed with energy, energy that felt similar to aura yet so very different, of a higher level, if such a thing is even possible.

"First, get used to your new power," Hazel said. "Then, you can plan out your revenge… but remember that Salem's plans need to come first."

"Oh, I know that all too well, my friend," Watts replied as he headed to the next room and Hazel followed him, watching as the former Atlas scientist located his rings and gingerly began putting them back on his fingers. "Not to worr- hm?"

Suddenly, just as Watts put on a few of his rings, the man stood ramrod straight and his eyes glowed yet again. But this time, as they glowed, so did the rings placed upon his fingers so far, pulsing the same color too. Then, just as suddenly as this happened, it stopped and Watts stumbled.

Hazel immediately darted forth and steadied the man. "Watts?" he called out, concerned. Had the operation been a failure after all?

"I… I'm fine," Watts answered after a moment, steadying himself. He looked at his rings intently… then smiled. "…It's just that, it would seem my new capabilities are already making themselves known to me. Just now… my very mind had synced with the rings. These ones are in turn synced with the cameras throughout the area here and all manner of recent footage as well as live streams just flooded my mind for a moment. But don't worry, I'm already adapting to the feeling."

At that, Hazel quirked an eyebrow. Of all the things he'd been expecting to hear, that definitely hadn't been it. Unable to think of what exactly to say, however, all he could do was watch his associate as he finished putting on the rest of his fingers and seemingly synced with them too, Watts closing his eyes for a moment as the remaining rings pulsed with vibrant energy.

"Ah…" Watts let out a long sigh. "How… how odd… but interesting, this sensation is. By closing my eyes and letting my senses expand themselves throughout this connection, it feels as if… as if…"

"…What?" Hazel finally managed to ask after Watts trailed off for a second.

Watts opened his eyes and the instant he did so, several things occurred simultaneously. Hazel could outright hear several machines within this base cease their operations while others switched from one task to another. Lights that had been on before now switched off outright or simply dimmed, certain monitors that had been off before now turned on and others that had been on suddenly opened up new displays.

Watts stepped forward and looked all around him before slowly removing his rings. "…It would seem I no longer need these. Rather sad – they'd been among my finest works. But now… now to even wear them feels redundant."

"Watts… you're leaving me in the dark here," Hazel said as he still followed after the man as he took off his rings and placed them gently upon a nearby table.

"As I'd just said, my mind had synced with the rings and their functions," Watts patiently said. "And now, after doing so, it feels as if my mind has extended itself outwards to all the machinery here." He smirked. "…For the sake of simplicity, I've gone from being a mere hacker that needs tools to do said hacking, to being both the hacker and hacking tool at the same time. In other words… technopathy, I believe the word is."

As if to prove this point, Watts' face appeared suddenly on several monitors which then seemed to walk off frame and appeared elsewhere. And when the man wiggled his fingers, the lights and machinery seemed to shimmy in place in direct response to his physical motions.

"To see a world of nothing buts ones and zeroes… and to be able to do this as a result of fiddling with it as a result," Watts murmured, just barely loud enough for Hazel to hear. He laughed. "How fascinating…!"

"Watts," Hazel said sternly. "Don't get too caught up in the moment here – remember where we're at."

"Ah, but of course. Worry not. I know better than to just lose myself completely in the moment…" Watts replied cordially as he turned around. But then his smirk grew sinister. "…Especially not when we appear to have some unexpected guests approaching."

At that, Hazel paused. "…What?"

Watts' eyes flickered, that same green glow occurring once more. "…Hmm. It would seem that your young 'friend' is in the area along with his friends. No doubt, they're here in search of us. But to think they've pinpointed even the general area we're in… truly impressive."

What? Jaune Arc really is in the area?

Hazel's muscles tensed, ready for battle. He'd sworn to finish that boy off the next time they faced, this time for good. Looks like now would be that time.

"Where are they are?" Hazel growled out in determination. He knew not how exactly Jaune Arc came to locate even the general area they were hiding in, but he'd expected as much from the blond by this point. Even if it was a bit sooner than expected, the blond was now on their trail.

Even with how many warehouses there are in this area that look alike, it'd only be a matter of time before that persistent blond and his friends stumbled across the one they'd converted into this safehouse. It was inevitable.

Thus, better to just blindside him yet again and-.

Watts placed a hand upon Hazel's forearm, which crackled with lightning and flames. Before, doing such a thing would've result in Watts' flesh being immediately burnt off even with aura protecting him. Hazel's power was just that immense. But now, it looked as if Watts' hand was holding up fine so far, though the glove he wore over it was being burned away as a result.

Hazel couldn't help but be impressed.

"Now, now," Watts said in an almost playful manner. "With everything that's happened recently, we can't just afford to reveal ourselves to the public so soon, not when Salem still has need of us to remain in the shadows. We may now be far beyond the rabble in this kingdom, but there's still a purpose in us staying hidden."

"Then what do you recommend?" Hazel asked as he settled down. "Even if we just leave now, Jaune Arc and his friends will no doubt notice the sudden bullhead, no matter how small it is, take off and they'll immediately fire upon us, consequences be damned. We'd have to fight either way."

"Ah, that may be true, but we need only distract them until we can make a retreat. Before, doing so would've been unwise due to our lack of safe means of getting in and out of the kingdom in a timely manner, but that's no longer an issue." Watts raised a hand and the machines around them followed his movement. "Though I've still much to learn about my new capabilities, I can already tell that keeping them occupied will be easily done on my part."

Once again, Hazel quirked an eyebrow. Nonetheless, he stepped back as Watts stepped forward, hands raised grandiosely, like an orchestra conductor right before the start of a performance.

Then, before Hazel could say or do anything else, Watts began his orchestra of machinery and chaos.

* * *

It was truly amazing how things can go from being perfectly normal to anything but in a literal instant, Jaune thought.

One moment, he and his friends had been essentially patrolling the streets still, just barely making their way closer to the warehouses in the area before a car that was passing by on the street suddenly did a sharp turn and accelerated in their direction.

"Holy shi-!" Yang yelled out as she leapt out of the way followed along with everyone else.

Everyone except for Jaune, that is.

He could see inside the car, saw how shocked and terrified the driver was. This clearly wasn't intentional on the person's part. If he dodged, the car would just slam right into the wall nearby and at that speed and the angle it would slam at, the driver would be hurt badly.

Thus, he darted forward for a split second before suddenly sliding to the left side of the car, the driver's side. Upon doing so, Jaune deftly bent down and grabbed the car by its bottom as it started to pass by him and he flipped it lightly into the air.

The instant he did so, he reached up into the open window of the driver's side and in one swift motion, he unbuckled and pulled the driver out before catching with a free hand the now upside down car, which he placed gently upon the ground.

But honestly, he shouldn't have bothered because the next thing he knew, a whole lot more cars suddenly started honking frantically as they too changed directions and accelerated down their new paths.

Some were heading for him, others for his friends that had moved out of the way and more were heading for the nearby shops.

There was no time to waste. "Stop the cars!" he called out. "Pyrrha, get the ones going for the civilians!"

"Weiss, help her!" Ruby called out. "Protect the people!"

Both the P of JNPR and W of RWBY immediately leapt into action. Pyrrha was the first to make a move, instantly using her semblance to apply the brakes on several of the cars. She could've outright stopped them in their tracks, but doing so would put the clearly confused and panicked drivers at risk of injury, so instead she opted to fiddle with certain parts of the cars to slow them down and divert their paths to somewhere more open. With how big the streets were and how few cars there were – relatively speaking, of course – this proved easy enough to do…

…But it was nowhere near enough.

Some cars couldn't be diverted in time by Pyrrha's semblance so that was when Weiss stepped in, immediately stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground as she concentrated and activated her own semblance, simultaneously creating a shield of glyphs around the civilians closest to her while also form two large black glyphs further away. The gravitational pull of these black glyphs proved just enough to keep some other cars at bay.

The drivers tried to frantically get out, but their doors refused to budge open. But the others hadn't simply been sitting safely on the sidelines – Yang and Nora darted forth and smashed open car doors and pulled the people out to safety, just as Weiss' black glyphs lost the struggle and the now empty cars continued onwards, slamming into street poles and the sides of buildings.

This only proved to be the start of things as streetlights started to go wonky and numerous alarms throughout the area simultaneously went off, creating a cacophony of noise that made it hard for them all to hear each other over.

In a nearby shop that Jaune could see into through its massive glass wall, some machines on the workers' side within was clearly going on the fritz, sparking noticeably even from this distance. The workers inside that had taken refuge behind the counter could just barely be heard screaming in sudden fright and making a run for it.

It was quickly becoming pure chaos, of a different variety from how things had been like during the attack on city hall but nonetheless proving to be just as severe.

Especially since it wasn't as if stopping the cars from crashing didn't mean the cars themselves had ceased moving on their own.

"Look out!" Pyrrha called out. "I'm going to place as many as I can upside down!"

With so many cars coming and going through the area, there was just no way his partner could focus on only a few at a time, especially not when the cars insisted on driving even with her semblance at work. The best she could do was just flip the ones she could reach out upside down so that no matter how much they accelerate, they won't be going anywhere.

"Nora, help her out! Start flipping cars!" Jaune called out. "Ren, head into the shops and start assessing the situations in there! Any machinery acting up, put a stop to it! I'll be doing the same once I clear the streets here!"

"Right!" Nora called out while Ren just nodded from where he was nearby and dashed inside the nearest shop.

As for Jaune, he spotted a number of people still out and about, rendered stupefied by what was suddenly going on, not that he could blame them. Despite some people heading inside for cover, not everyone was able to do so, not that heading inside would be much safer if cars kept threatening to ram into and through walls, to say nothing of whatever machinery and technology was inside that could be acting up.

"Jaune!" Ruby called out as she used her semblance to close the distance between them swiftly. "I'm going to start hitting up the warehouses! If there's any machinery or tech that could definitely be a threat if it goes nuts like these cars, it'll be whatever stuff is there!"

"Alright!"

Ruby nodded and then took off at high speeds, Yang following after her to provide some much needed muscle. With Nora already here to pull heavy duty while Pyrrha and Weiss took care of any rampant cars with their semblances and himself already intent on tending to any civilians on the street, it made sense for Yang to assist her sister as a precaution.

All that left right now was Blake, who masterfully used the bows her weapons came with to pull a woman out of the way of a car that would've otherwise run her down.

Holding the frightened woman up, Blake looked to him. "We need to establish a safe zone and fast! Whatever's going on, things will only get worse if we don't figure out something!"

"I know," Jaune replied, already trying to figure that out.

As if to further compound the fact that things were going wonky, some drones that he presumed belonged to some of the people in the apartments and hotels nearby started to flit about through the air. Said drones made it a point to swerve towards him and his friends in particular.

Drawing his sword and cutting down some of the closer ones, Jaune then leapt forward and kicked the side of a car that would've otherwise crashed right into another one that had just suddenly come to a stop. As much as it pained him to do that when someone was clearly inside it, it had to be done in order to avoid a fate far worse. In any case, he made sure to kick in the spot just above the front left tire, rendering it inoperable.

As the chaos quickly grew all around him, Jaune's thoughts began to flit through his mind at hypersonic speeds.

Just what in the hell was going on? It was clearly the work of someone, but just how was this possible?

As he dwelled on that question, the blond leader swiftly moved about, taking action even as he was deep in thought over this.

He could only pray that whatever was going on would soon come to a stop, one way or another.

* * *

With a deep sense of satisfaction, Watts watched his carefully crafted chaos as though he was physically there, the live feed from some cameras in the area practically playing within his own eyes, well, just one of them, that is.

"That should do it," he murmured as he finally lowered his arms, though not before then fiddling his fingers once more. In response, a small aircraft big enough for two or three people switched on remotely just outside the warehouse he and Hazel were currently in.

It was time for them to bid this place goodbye. He'd gotten what he so desperately wished for and now it was time to fall back until the next part of the plan, which would first require Tyrian to make his way here.

"Time to take our leave," he called out to Hazel as he severed the connection between his eye and the cameras out there in the area. "While there is a chance they'll notice our craft leave, it'll be far too late for them to do anything."

"…Just what exactly did you do?" Hazel responded after a few seconds, though the big man did follow after him. "I can feel it… the sudden surge of negativity. To say nothing of that racket outside now."

Watts just chuckled. "In this modern era, with so many things being a part of one big network, hackers can so terribly easily take control of entire city blocks and more. In my case just now, I seized control of the more advanced cars that the residents in this area normally have and have reprogrammed them to drive into any and every obstacle nearby, utilizing onboard cameras as well as the ones mounted in the shops and sides of buildings to get the exact coordinates. The same thing goes for the drones. And as I'm sure you can hear as well, I've taken the liberty of triggering all the alarms in the buildings."

Hazel grunted. "Noted," the man dryly commented. "How long can you keep that up for exactly…?" He sounded most intrigued as to Watts' newfound power.

It was an intrigue that Watts himself naturally held too, but he already had a good grasp of this particular power at least.

"Oh, as long as I want, really," he freely admitted, not even the slightest bit of boasting in his tone. He could just 'feel' it in his very being – so long as he is within a certain distance of any bit of technology that can be programmed, he can easily hijack it and manipulate as he pleases for as long as he wishes. "If I wished, I could have those alarms blare until they short out and those cars will keep on going until they've completely totaled themselves or they run out of Dust to power them. Alas, I didn't actually do so. Instead, I merely set it up so that it will all reset to their previous settings in the next ten minutes. More than enough time for us to be well away from here."

Watts picked up his pace as he neared the exit. Just as he opened the door, two things occurred in response to his will and a little wiggle of the fingers. Firstly, the aircraft lifted off slightly and moved from its hidden spot nearby to just outside the warehouse for their immediate boarding. The second thing that happened was the immediate shutdown and self-destruction of all the machinery inside. While it wasn't too likely for anyone to stumble across this safehouse anytime soon, the possibility wasn't zero and thus he'd rather not leave any traces of his having been here.

Of course, he wasn't about to just have the place itself blow up or anything. That'd only immediately draw attention to this area and even though nothing would be salvageable, it'd only alert their would-be pursuers that they'd been right on the money about their location and fuel their desire to give chase. Best just to stay low as possible for the time being.

The aircraft, a modified bullhead, landed just as he and Hazel stepped outside and the former Atlas scientist hopped right in, his associate following his lead yet again.

As soon as they were in, Watts squinted and flexed his new power and in response, the bullhead's controls moved on their own, silently rising just high enough to clear the buildings nearby.

"…" Hazel made a sound that Watts couldn't identify.

"Hmm, what's the matter? Something of interest?" Watts asked, feeling a huge smile on his face as his mind partially delved into cyberspace itself, interacting with the bullhead in a way that only programmers could ever even dream of. Those ridiculous sci-fi films people come up with couldn't even begin to get down pat this immersive feeling.

So enraptured was Watts by this sensation that he didn't realize he hadn't actually spoken out of his mouth, but rather through the speakers of the bullhead itself.

Hazel said nothing for a moment as the bullhead simply rose higher and higher before beginning its flight out of Vale. The big man appeared to be deliberating about something quite intensely. "…Watts," he began. "Don't let this power get to you too much. No matter how useful it's clearly proving itself to be, arrogance is the last thing needed here."

Watts had to hold back a scoff. Him? Growing arrogant? How can such a thing be when this power was already proving to be something Ironwood and his pathetic army can't even remotely hope to combat? To say nothing of whatever else he may soon prove capable of accomplishing now.

Can it really be arrogance when this power was truly every bit as mighty as he'd dreamed of it being and more? To think that once upon a time, he'd even considered trying to grant this kind of power to all of humanity… how utterly foolish of him back then. Most of these people wouldn't even begin to know how to truly appreciate this gift he'd bequeathed unto himself.

"Not a worry, Hazel," Watts replied, blinking as he disconnected from the bullhead's system… and still seeing ones and zeroes all around him. Hmm, how odd. Perhaps it was a sign of his adapting to the Eternal Motor still. "I of all people know there's a time to indulge in one's self, but now is hardly that time."

Hazel said nothing, but Watts could almost literally feel the man's skepticism bearing down on him. Given Hazel's own predicament with his growing power and the nature of it, Watts supposed it only made sense for his associate to concern himself with such things.

But even so, Hazel really was letting this get to him too much – things would soon perfectly be under their control.

It was just a matter of doing their due diligence in adapting to their new circumstances.

Eager to find some place nice and quiet and open so that he may fully test out his still adjusting power, Watts signaled for the bullhead to pick up speed.

Soon enough, they exited Vale's airspace and were freely travelling to parts elsewhere.

The man couldn't wait for the day he'd return to show James Ironwood just what he'd been foolish enough to miss out on.

* * *

Tyrian awoke with a bit of a yawn and nice long stretch, acting for all the world as though he wasn't inside a most uncomfortable cargo plane.

Ever since those Branwen twins had used Raven Branwen's semblance to head elsewhere – undoubtedly to meet with that parasitic Ozpin – Tyrian had disengaged from his duty up until that point, having no longer seen a point in monitoring the situation.

With Qrow Branwen having gone to parts unknown and Raven Branwen, now armed with the knowledge of his combat prowess, proving to be no longer an easy mark to take down, Tyrian had opted to cut his losses and give up the reconnaissance. After all, in the name of her grace, he couldn't afford to potentially fall here, especially not when the Branwen tribe had started to be more active, no doubt keeping an eye out for him.

A shame, really. It would be most lovely to settle the score that had developed between him and the Branwen twins, but this wasn't meant to be, at least not yet. Perhaps another time.

In any case, he'd been contacted by his goddess not long after his fallback, her grace once again proving her divine and frightful power by prophesizing where he'd be and when, a Seer Grimm having been dispatched to that location well in advance. It'd even reached the open spot in the forest long before he'd even though to travel through that area.

Truly, his goddess was a being of frightful power, a power that the entire world shall soon come to know and cower before in due time.

Ah, but he was digressing here, getting too wrapped up already with thoughts of her grace. That wouldn't do, not when he needed to be especially alert.

After all, he was hitching an unnoticed ride in Haven Academy's general direction and it would soon be time for him to disembark, the academy little more than fifteen minutes out.

Her grace, when she'd contacted him through the Seer, had informed him that her attempts to fool the vault of the Spring Maiden had finally bore fruit and it was now up to him to head there to collect the Relic of Knowledge.

To act as just a simple mailman of sorts, that is, to pick up and deliver a single object, would normally be seen as something of an affront to people like him, but to him, this was a mission from his beloved goddess. He'd accomplish it with great fervency. Given that this would be the first time her grace would finally have a Relic at hand, this was truly a momentous occasion.

Truly, it was a pity to think his goddess had gone this long without ever even being able to so much as glimpse a Relic in person. This was all thanks to that damnable fool Ozpin constantly thinking up ways of foiling his goddess' previous agents throughout the ages.

If it wasn't for the fact that Grimm gathering up could eventually be spotted from far away and thus crushed, especially in more modern times where technology and weaponry was especially advanced, then the Grimm would've been more than enough to trample the world long ago.

Alas that was the problem with Grimm hordes – they're easy to notice and put a stop to if spotted from far enough away. And again, with technology being advanced enough to spot others from miles away if not further, Grimm hordes had long since become impractical to send in. So long as the kingdoms' outer defenses still stood, sending in any number of Grimm without any type of real support would be futile, more so as long as Ozpin has the Relics and his little inner circle at hand, figuratively speaking.

That was why it'd long since been necessary to engage in all this subterfuge. And now, it was about to pay off.

As Tyrian forced open a nearby cargo door and he peeked out into the world below, he smiled like a loon as he saw Haven academy quickly looming into sight.

Soon, nothing would stop his goddess from enacting her plans. Not even Ozpin would be able to stop her grace this time.

* * *

Leonardo groaned quietly as the Seer let go of him. Utterly drained as the Grimm had used him once again as some sort of aura battery, all the headmaster could do was lift his head enough to look in despair as the vault opened before his very eyes.

Salem had done it, he thought in that moment, she'd managed to figure out a way to fool the vault. He knew not how exactly she'd been able to trick it into thinking the Spring Maiden was the one to open it, but what mattered is that she'd succeeded… and he'd failed.

He'd failed oh so much.

…He really was a pathetic man.

Leonardo had long since known of his own innate cowardice. Honestly, part of the reason he'd even joined Ozpin in this crusade of his at all is because he'd just feared the existence of Salem that much. It hadn't been out of some noble desire to see such a monstrous person stopped for the sake of Remnant or anything like that, not completely.

But when Salem had managed to reach out to him, his fear of her had grown to the point where he'd quickly bent his knee to her and became her spy… and now, here he was reaping the consequences.

These past few weeks, but especially these past few days, he'd been ordered by Salem to send out more and more huntsmen to deal with 'sudden surges in Grimm populations near towns.' This hadn't been untrue per say but said 'surges' were entirely by Salem's designs. And of course, he'd been ordered as well to underplay just how big these forming Grimm hordes really were, to say nothing of falsifying where exactly these nonexistent towns even were. As a result, he'd sent many brave men and women to their deaths, all of them unaware of his hand in their deaths.

He couldn't even bring himself to blame Salem for this. It was all on him. He could've tried something, literally anything, but he didn't. And now, it's only here at the end of things that he spends so much time properly reflecting on his sins.

Haggardly, he tried to stand. "Just… Just what am I to do now…?" he asked in a very quiet tone towards the Seer, Salem having been communicating with him through it just moments ago. But she didn't seem to be there anymore.

As he tried to catch his breath and regain at least some semblance of his former bearings, he looked towards the now fully opened vault and some small part of his mind couldn't help but marvel at what looked like an entirely different world, one of eternal spring, was contained within the vault.

And right there, sitting atop a pedestal of sorts was an intricate lamp, golden in design yet also glowing with what looked like blue energy. It was honestly his first time ever seeing any Relic up close and even with how exhausted and miserable he currently is, Leonardo was captivated by the sight.

…

…

…It… it was just him and this Seer, he noted. The Seer's tentacles possessed surprising strength, yes, and he was exhausted from being used like a live battery these past several days, to say nothing of the stress he'd been under for a long time, but…

He shook his head. Just what was he thinking? Did he really believe he could do something about this mess he'd caused? Back when he'd first been approached by Salem's Seer Grimm, he could've and should've done something about it – he'd still been at the peak of his strength and as cowardly as he is, it wasn't as if he'd never fought before. He was headmaster of Haven Academy for a reason, after all.

But, after everything he's done, did he really have a right to suddenly change his ways? Doing so would not earn him redemption, not by a long shot.

But… it's just that… it's just that, seeing the Relic for himself somehow really compounded the situation for good into him. Up until now, he'd been holding out some stupid hope that Salem's attempts at opening the vault without the Maiden would fail. Even if she'd take out her frustrations on him in such a situation, it would've been so much better had she failed in this endeavor.

That she'd been able to open the vault though and he could now see for himself the Relic the Grimms' leader so clearly wanted all this time, though… something in him sort of shifted as a result of this sight.

It would never make up for what he's done, but he had to do som-!

"Ohh…" A voice suddenly rang out from somewhere behind him, one so very sickeningly lustful in a sense.

Using what little strength that had returned to him, Leonardo managed to turn around just enough to see who it was…

…And his heart practically seized beating in his chest as a result.

"Ah… so that is the Relic of Knowledge," Tyrian Callows, infamously crazed serial killer, uttered with open arms. The lanky scorpion Faunus looked as though he was reaching nirvana just by looking at it.

"H-How…?" Leonardo started to say, only to be cut off by a sudden bark of laughter from Tyrian.

"You've sent out so many of your precious huntsmen to be slaughtered like the lambs they are," the Faunus began sinisterly. "And your students have yet to fully return from their lovely time in Vale. Did you really think that, with your academy so lacking in defenders, I'd be unable to slip my way in here?"

"Tyrian," Salem's voice called out suddenly from the Seer near Leonardo. "My thanks for your quick arrival. Now, would you be so kind as to retrieve the Relic for me?"

"Of course, your grace," Tyrian said fervently before marching forward with purpose.

He quickly passed right by Leonardo, and the headmaster, acting on some long forgotten impulse, reached out in an attempt to stop the scorpion Faunus – only for Tyrians tail to suddenly lash out and swat him aside harshly. The serial killer didn't even so much as look his way in the process.

And so, as Leonardo went skidding painfully across the floor, hacking and coughing from the lightning fast hit to his defenseless ribs, he could only listen but not see as Tyrian reached the pedestal and lifted the Relic off of it.

"N-No…" Leonardo managed to hack out. Because of how drained his aura was from the Seer's actions earlier, that hit just now really had crushed his ribs. Combined with his fatigued state, it took all he had just to get back up onto his knees.

And as if to mock him, Salem spoke to Tyrian and the deranged man listened, both of them acting as if he wasn't even there anymore.

"Good," rang out Salem's satisfied voice. "Tyrian, bring that to me as quickly as possible. Do whatever you must to do so. All I ask is that you avoid detection lest you be delayed. After bringing it to me, go and meet with Hazel and Watts. It shall soon be time to deliver the final blow to Vale before my own assault upon it can begin. Once you're on your way, I shall give you their precise coordinates."

Tyrian bowed deeply, holding the Relic of Knowledge in the same tender manner a new parent would hold their own newborn child. "At once, your grace!" The man was positively giddy.

And then he turned and looked right at Leonardo. "And…" the man began in a bloodthirsty tone. "What of him?"

The Seer turned slightly so that Salem could peer at him. The woman's expression, in contrast to her servant's, was one of mild amusement, as if this was but a fun little business exchange.

"Of the four kingdoms, Vale shall be the first to fall for good," Salem began, speaking more to Tyrian than to him. "But it is never too early to plant the seeds of chaos and fear here in Mistral. Do be sure to place his body back in his office for discovery, Tyrian. And don't forget to close up the entrance to vault as well. It wouldn't do to tip our hand too early to Ozpin and his remaining allies."

"It shall be done, your grace," Tyrian said with a massive and predatory grin as Salem's image faded within the Seer's bulbous form. The man giggled darkly as he slowly approached Leonardo's still kneeling form, his stinger steadily raising and poising to strike-.

-Only for Leonardo to strike first.

A coward he may be, he was still a huntsman, if only a shadow of one now. Bolstered by all the fear and self-loathing he's long felt, what little strength remained within Leonardo manifested itself here and now. The headmaster let out a surprisingly mighty bellow, one worthy of his lion Faunus heritage as he suddenly activated his weapon, Stalwart.

Though it was a simple weapon in both design and usage, there was never any denying its effectiveness. The weapon was fully capable of launching small but extremely concentrated Dust attacks that could effortlessly fell even Beringels if direct shots are landed. Backed by his once extremely sharp reflexes, he could pull off incredibly fast quickdraws that would bombard enemies with a variety of different Dust attacks. The way his weapon works was that it would only be rotated in one direction, meaning switching from one specific Dust to another wasn't possible, but the order of the Dust chambers ensured that the effects of each one would stack for greater damage and hampering ability so even against much larger Grimm, he could still easily keep them at bay and fell them.

And Tyrian, as resilient a man as he no doubt was, would be no exception. The serial killer, taken aback by Leonardo's sudden surge of courage – no, desperation, plain and simple – could only leap back several yards and then to his left, avoiding the rapid-fire shots. The same could not be said of the Seer, however, and it quickly died after two shots struck its bulbous 'head' directly, splattering it all over the place before its remains dissipated.

Due to how drained he was, Leonardo had trouble keeping a bead on the man, but he nonetheless did his best anyways, in particular aiming for the scorpion Faunus' tail. His aim proved just reliable enough that Tyrian had no choice but keep it hidden behind his back completely to avoid it taking any nasty hits.

At the sight of that, for just one terribly brief second, Leonardo entertained the possibility of him actually being able to pull this off, of being able to keep this evil bastard at bay just long enough to make an escape and get in touch with Ozpin and let him know of what was going on-.

-But unfortunately, that was a hope that so easily dashed right after it had formed.

Clearly enraged by his resistance, Tyrian drew his own blades and using some aura to further strengthen them, he proceeded to cut through the next several shots that Leonardo managed to get off before suddenly rushing right in.

Leonardo's eyes went wide, knowing this was to be his end. Even so, he tried desperately to get up and backpedal, do something – _anything_ – to keep a distance between him and Tyrian. Alas, what little strength he still possessed didn't extent to his wobbling legs and so he only ended up practically collapsing onto his back, suddenly and without any fanfare.

And that single instance was all it took to throw off his aim for good, giving Tyrian ample time to close the distance between them. Then the man swung his blade just once and sneered-.

-And that sneer was the last thing Leonardo could comprehend seeing as his throat was cleanly cut open, blood flowing freely and quickly.

The last fully formed thought he had before dying was of how sorry he was towards those he no longer had the right to call friends.

Just before he could even start to pray for forgiveness, Leonardo's live came to its end.

* * *

Salem hummed in mild surprise and even amusement.

Though she'd cut communications with Tyrian, she'd still been able to see through the Seer and had bore witness to the beginning of what was undoubtedly Leonardo's last stand for there was absolutely no way the headmaster of Haven would ever best Tyrian. The cowardly man's sudden defiance had been unexpected given just how beaten down he'd become during his brief employ but was not altogether an unpleasant sight.

Salem had long since come to acknowledge mankind's general resiliency and their stubborn will in fighting for their own survival. These were things she could actually even admire, for they were traits she had as well. It's just that now, she was stubbornly trying to accomplish something quite different from what most humans would probably ever even dream of trying to do.

Alas, it was all in vain. Leonardo may have demonstrated some of mankind's better traits in his last few moments, but said futility was also a sign of mankind's own future too. For no matter how they may try to resist, it would only be a matter of time until they perished one way or another.

But she was letting herself be distracted her.

No, what she should be focusing on is what she's accomplished. She's managed to open the vault and ordered Tyrian to now bring the Relic right to her. Compared to how things have gone over the past several eras, this was quite an achievement for her as far as the war against Ozma and his own forces was concerned.

That said, she was debating on whether or not she'd actually use the Relic of Knowledge. Aside from asking if there was another and more efficient way of recalling the God Brothers so that they may face her wrath for good, there was hardly any other need she had for it. As of now, her plans were progressing quite smoothly and with Hazel's and now Watts' growing power, setting the stage for Vale's annihilation would be much easier to accomplish.

Once that was accomplished, searching for the Relic of Choice would be easy to do and if that Relic did what she believed it to be capable of doing, then bringing down the other kingdoms would become much easier to do as well as be doable much more quickly, which would in turn leave her free to obtain the other Relics in a swift order.

But again, it wasn't as if she truly needed the Relic for any immediate usage other than the aforementioned question. But certainly, having it in her possession deprives Ozma and his allies of a valuable asset.

Yes, she could say with absolute certainty that things were truly beginning to look up for her now and she couldn't help but smile as she fully took this all in.

Her already ominous red eyes glowing an even fiercer red and her blackened veins darkening even more, Salem continued to dwell on what was to come next, more confident than ever of her assured victory.

Soon, this world will be at her mercy and the God Brothers will finally pay for their actions from long ago.

* * *

 **Yeah, a bit of a shorter chapter than usual, I'll admit and not too much really happening yet again. Still just setting the stage for what is to come next, you guys. Hope you will look forward to it as there are still plenty more twists and turns to come for all parties involved.**

 **As for the lack of conflict concerning Jaune and co.'s side and Hazel/Watts, the reason for that is simply that it's not yet time for things to come to a head just yet. It is simply not time yet for Watts and Hazel to truly show what they're capable of… and the same goes for Jaune as well. Hope you understand.**

 **Also, Leonardo was yet another one of those horribly underutilized characters in canon, especially in his 'fight' against Oscar/Ozpin. Though it wasn't as if he was going toe to toe with Tyrian in the end there, I hope I was able to give him a bit of a better showing/fleshing out than his canon self.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe.**


	43. Chapter 43

To both **Hirshja** and **Ninjafox911** , thank you very much for your words of concern. It really does mean a lot. I'm, well, I'm doing better and that's all I can really say after what had happened… and honestly, what had happened was something that I'd kind of seen coming in advance as opposed to everyone else in my family… so I guess I had already been braced for the impact in a sense. Didn't make what happen hurt any less, but I think I am holding up much better than the others who were blindsided by it.

But again, thank you very much for your concern. I hope things are going okay for you guys. **Ninjafox911** , I also hope that things are better now for you too and will continue to improve.

This, of course, goes all out to any and all who read this fic too – hope you all are doing okay. If you're going through rough times, may things improve for you all soon.

Stay safe, everyone.

P.S. Please read AN at end for some clarification on fic related things.

Chapter 43

It was with a heavy sigh that Ozpin watched listlessly as Amber remained comatose within that machine he'd placed her in. Her vitals were stronger than ever and overall, it looked like she'll be physically recovered soon enough.

Not that this mattered much since she was still in that blasted coma, but he needed whatever good news he could get at this point.

Especially when considering what had happened.

Two things of exceptional note – and that was putting things mildly – had occurred within a very short period of time. Firstly, teams JNPR and RWBY had gone out into Vale just yesterday afternoon and had ended up dealing with a most unusual situation, in the form of numerous cars and city-owned drones used for in-city deliveries and infrastructure usage had gone completely haywire, trying to attack civilians. This sudden oddity had lasted only ten or so minutes at the most and no one had been hurt thanks to the quick and decisive actions of the two first year teams, but given the string of incidents that precede this one, it only added to the public unrest in that particular area.

The second thing of note… had been the news he'd been informed of just earlier today:

Leonardo Lionheart, one of his good friends in this current life of his and someone complicit in the efforts against Salem, had been found dead in his office this morning.

Ozpin has lost many friends and loved ones throughout his lives, but it always hurt like hell whenever he had to experience it again. But sadly, he nor his other friends could afford to grieve the man's death much just yet, not when there was still so much to do in the shadow war against Salem.

When he'd been informed of this, there hadn't been a single doubt in his mind that Salem must have had a hand in this, for there was absolutely no reason for anyone not affiliated with her to go out of their way to kill the headmaster of a huntsmen academy, especially not on academy grounds at that too.

With this in mind, he'd been all too quick to inform Qrow, who'd gone out before hearing of this, and Qrow in turn had called up Raven – when they'd met with the bandit leader to form their little alliance, they'd made sure to give her a disposable scroll that already had Qrow's number added to it – and got the woman to run a quick but especially important 'errand.'

That is to say, Ozpin had gotten Raven to head to Haven and check on the Relic there. It'd been a hunch on his part since there was no guarantee Salem's forces would know of where exactly the vault was located much less of a way to bypass its defenses and quite the risk too since there was always the chance Raven would just take the Relic for herself and book it to parts unknown as one final 'screw you' to him. But to his somewhat pleasant surprise, Raven had dutifully acquiesced though not without some cynical remarks about this situation…

…And it'd been to his horror that upon the woman checking in with Qrow and him, it was revealed that the Relic was no longer inside the vault.

Somehow, Salem had figured out a way to open the vault without having the Spring Maiden – in this case, Raven – involved. The implications behind this were absolutely terrifying to consider. If Salem could do that with one vault, then what was to say she couldn't do the same with any of the others?

Needless to say, since this was confirmed, he'd spent most of his time holed up in his office making numerous calls and coordinating things with both James and the headmaster of Shade to reassess the defenses around the Relic of Destruction and Relic of Creation respectively

Sadly, relocating the Relics wasn't possible for they were currently in immobile constructs – a vault in the case of the Relic of Destruction while the Relic of Creation was serving as the power core for all of Atlas. This, of course, applied for the Relic of Choice as well and sadly none of the Maidens could simply be called up to open the vaults for them.

As the Relic of Creation was serving as the power core for Atlas, it wasn't in a vault and thus could technically be removed as needed – but without it, Atlas itself would immediately fall upon Mantle. Even if Atlas was relocated elsewhere and allowed to fully descend before the Relic was removed, that would still leave the people of the kingdom without power and only put them all at risk of Solitas' intense cold. An alternative power source would first be needed before they could even think of relocating the Relic and who knows how long that would take. Dust wasn't even an option since the amount needed to power a veritable sky fortress was absolutely ridiculous.

As for both the Relic of Destruction and Choice, as they were within their vaults still, the Summer and Fall Maidens respectively would be needed… but the Summer Maiden's whereabouts were currently unknown, having been allowed to travel much like Amber had been allowed to do and any and all guards he'd tried to send with her have been shaken off. The Summer Maiden did at least make regular contact with Shade's headmaster, so hopefully she can be recalled and move the Relic to another location once she returned.

Alas, as for the Relic of Choice, with Amber still comatose, they couldn't very well drag her and try to coax the young woman into opening the vault. Thus, the only way to do that… would be to first transfer the power of the Fall Maiden to someone else…

At that, Ozpin grimaced and looked away from Amber. To even remotely entertain such a thought sickened him, but more than that, it simply wasn't viable either. With Salem's advantage greater than ever before, he just couldn't afford to transfer the Fall Maiden power to another host since there likely wouldn't be anywhere near enough time to train the new Maiden how to wield the power properly and without risk. As inexperienced as Amber still is, she at least has a solid grasp of the basics.

All in all, things weren't looking very good, not good at all. it was angering him, genuinely angering him, really. Every time he and his allies have tried to respond to one incident, an even worse one crops up immediately thereafter.

The only upside to all this aside from Amber's steady recovery was that one question had already been used up for the Relic of Knowledge, meaning that if Salem did summon Jinn, she'd only have two questions to ask the spirit of the Relic. It was a very small mercy, but it was better than nothing.

But this absolutely cannot stand. Now more than ever, action needs to be taken before the next big metaphorical storm comes their way.

His scroll beeped and he immediately answered it. It was Glynda.

"Ozpin," she began, deadly serious. "Teams RWBY and JNPR have been summoned to your office. They'll be there in a matter of minutes."

"Good. I'm heading back up right now. Meet me there," he replied swiftly before ending the call.

Turning around and making a quick exit, Ozpin steeled himself for what must come. He's made it a point to scout out and ultimately recruit allies over the course of years. In the case of Glynda and all of team STRQ, he'd slowly spent the four years they'd spent as Beacon students learning all about them and bringing them into the fold.

This was something he'd intended to do from the start with both RWBY and JNPR, if only due to Ruby Rose's silver eyes and the viability of Pyrrha Nikos as the next Fall Maiden as well as Jaune Arc's own abnormal might… but with all that has happened recently, to say nothing of JNPR's leader learning about Salem already, it was already time to properly bring them all into the fold.

He truly didn't wish to do this, not when they were all still so fresh, so untested when in comparison to older and more experienced teams, but time had long since ceased being a privilege he could afford.

As he reached his office and now awaited their arrival, Ozpin prepared himself to fill them in on the gaps in their recently obtained knowledge… all the while hoping that doing this would not result in their early deaths.

* * *

"Enter," called out the headmaster's voice as soon as Jaune, followed shortly by his friends, approached the door to the headmaster's office.

Opening the door and holding it open for his friends, Jaune immediately locked eyes with the man in question and then noted the presence of professor Goodwitch as well. Taking note of their general demeanor, the blond immediately knew what this was about.

He'd had his suspicions from the very instant his team along with team RWBY were summoned here, but now those suspicions were confirmed. He'd shared his suspicions too with his friends within the quiet sanctity of their dorms right after the summoning, and as he briefly looked at them all, he could see the gears turning in their minds too.

As he closed the door now, Jaune approached his partner and stood by her side. No sooner than when he'd reached her did the headmaster pressed some unseen button and the door audibly locked behind them along with the window tint dimming to the point where looking outside was borderline impossible.

Needless to say, it did take a couple of his friends – primarily Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha – off guard enough to make them nearly jump out of their skin. The deadly serious gazes of both the headmaster and professor Goodwitch weren't helping either.

"Thank you for coming," the headmaster now began before any of them could even think to say anything. "Allow me to get right to the point – Mr. Arc here had no doubt informed you all of what he learned about Salem, yes?"

"T-That's right, sir," Ruby squeaked out nervously. "He, uh, he told us all about her. Immortal Grimm queen… pretty scary stuff."

At that, the corners of the headmaster's mouth twitched marginally. Looks like he might have found Ruby's words rather amusing. He'd have probably chuckled a bit under different circumstances, Jaune silently surmised.

"Correct. And this information is something you've no doubt acted on yesterday to some extent," the headmaster replied as he stood up. "And I gather this is why that incident yesterday had occurred."

"An incident," professor Goodwitch now began as she looked at her scroll, no doubt reading a report. "that consisted of numerous cars, drones, and other machinery suddenly running rampant for approximately ten to fifteen minutes. You eight were at the center of it all, Ms. Nikos and Ms. Schnee using their semblances to slow down and otherwise prevent the cars from crashing into any civilians while Mr. Lie went into the shops to shut down the malfunctioning machinery there… while that happened, you, Mr. Arc along with Ms. Belladonna handled crowd control and moved the civilians elsewhere whilst Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long took to the warehouses… is that correct?"

"That's correct, professor," Jaune answered. As it'd been his idea to go into Vale at all, he felt it best to take the lead in answering that question. "And as you've guessed, our trek into that part of Vale was due to some information we'd been acting on, information that we'd hoped would be beneficial to stopping at least one or two of Salem's agents."

Both the headmaster and professor Goodwitch looked to him, their gazes extremely intense. Most others would no doubt balk under such stares, but he stood his ground without issue.

"As I'd suspected," the headmaster began. "It would seem there's a fair bit of information you are privy to that my allies and I are not. That must now come to an end."

At that, even Jaune tensed. "Headmaster…?"

"Mr. Arc, as you've no doubt figured out, when we spoke of Salem, there was still a fair bit I was leaving out. Though you've proven yourself to be a noble person, I'm sure you understand why secrecy is needed in many cases… and especially so when concerning the existence of Salem," the headmaster said. He took a few steps around his desk so that he now stood by it. "But more than that, I'd held back the truth because I'd felt it wasn't right to drag you and your friends into this shadow war against her… at least not just yet. But with all that's happened recently, I've reconsidered that."

There was a few seconds of absolute silence as Jaune and his friends comprehended what the man had just said.

It was Pyrrha who then spoke. "Headmaster, do you mean to say that…?"

The headmaster bowed his head. "…From the start, it was my intention to eventually bring some of you into the fold… not because I want to, but because certain circumstances would've made it necessary. And now, circumstances have made it necessary to bring you all into the fold here and now. But to do that, we must be honest with each other." He eyed each and every one of them briefly but with an intensity that would make even the most battle-hardened warriors freeze in place. "I see it in your eyes – you all know well how much of a danger Salem possesses not just to any one kingdom, but to the entirety of Remnant. You've all done admirable work on your own, but now is the time for us to consolidate our might. But to do that, I must again reiterate how important it is we share what we know. You all hadn't simply strolled into that section of Vale on a mere whim – you'd done so intentionally. I wish to know why you'd done that… and in turn, I shall share what else I know."

The headmaster's gaze then softened. "…I know this is quite sudden on my part and incredibly unfair… but please. I truly wouldn't do this unless I felt it was genuinely necessary."

Jaune looked to Pyrrha, then to Nora and Ren. They all looked back at him and at each other. He then did the same with RWBY. And after doing so, they all looked back at the headmaster and professor Goodwitch with expressions of pure resolve.

As first years in a huntsmen academy, all they should've had to worry about was school, whatever few Grimm and run of the mill criminals they had to deal with on missions down the line and whatever other simple everyday things teens worry about. That they instead have had to worry about the likes of Roman Torchwick and the White Fang and now Salem was a hell of a far cry from the typical trainee life.

But whatever their personal reasons for doing what they do, they've all chosen the path of being huntsmen and huntresses, fully knowing in advance that there'd be days where the odds would be completely against them.

Dealing with the likes of Hazel and Salem and whoever else they're affiliated with may be a hell of a step up from the 'usual' stuff huntsmen trainees deal with… but at the end of the day, all this was no different from what aspiring huntsmen were meant to do – fighting against all odds to protect the daily lives of others.

With this in mind, Jaune stepped forward. "Alright then…" he said simply before launching into an explanation of all that's occurred these past several weeks and even further back.

A lot of what he had to say was just a rehash of certain things such as the two battles he's had with Hazel, but there was still plenty more worth telling – the conflicts with the White Fang, Tukson's help with both that matter and the matter yesterday, the conjecture he and his friends have come up with regarding all this stuff… he left nothing out.

Of course, over the course of this long explanation, his friends naturally chipped in, taking over the talking whenever they had more to add. This was especially true in the case of Blake whenever certain things regarding the White Fang and Tukson's involvement cropped up.

With the windows remaining tinted, Jaune had no idea exactly how much time had passed by the time they finished speaking, but he estimated that at least twenty minutes or so have gone by.

By the end of it, he and his friends could only stand there, feeling oddly lighter. It was as if some unknown pressure that had been holding them down had suddenly lifted. It was quite a nice feeling, if Jaune said so himself.

That said, seeing the way the headmaster and professor Goodwitch reacted throughout their explanation was quite something. He wouldn't go as far as to say it was worrisome but seeing them both – mainly the latter – look genuinely shocked and just somewhat angered by their clearly reckless actions was certainly worth noting.

He didn't expect it to make them suddenly change their minds or anything, but there was never any way to truly be sure.

Thankfully…

"I… see," the headmaster said as he let out a quiet sigh. "…You lot have kept yourselves busy."

"To say nothing of how reckless you've all been in the process," professor Goodwitch muttered, albeit in resignation. What was done is done, plus as Jaune had stressed, they'd done all that they'd done after taking into consideration everything possible. They hadn't just gone into things without thinking out the potential consequences.

"U-Uhm, so… are we gonna get in trouble for all that?" Ruby now asked on behalf of them all, the silver eyed girl nervous once again.

The headmaster then chuckled lightly. "I believe at this point, trying to stick you all in detention would be idiotic on my part," he joked quietly, getting just a few chuckles in response. The man then walked forward a bit so that he was now standing directly before the eight of them. His expression was as serious as could be. "…Now, as promised, I shall share what else has been kept secret, but before I do…"

The headmaster looked them all in the eyes. If his gaze had been intense before, then it was piercing the very core of their souls this time around. Everyone stood at complete attention, unable to so much as gulp or even twitch.

"I want to make it clear," the man said quietly. "Just how important this is. As is the case with Salem herself, what I'm about to tell you is not information that can be shared with others on a mere whim. And if you truly wish to take part in this, I need to stress how much I need you all to be willing to trust me… all the training you've undergone so far to get to this point, the rest of your time here at Beacon… all of that simply cannot prepare you properly for the danger Salem herself poses. Am I understood?"

Once more, they all stayed silent but their resolve showed through nonetheless. Things have come this far. Backing out now simply wasn't an option, not that they would've taken such an option in the first place.

Seeing their resolve, the headmaster nodded…

…And then, the man began to talk.

* * *

Ozpin watched carefully as every one of the eight students before him reacted to everything he had to tell them.

The existence of the God Brothers. The Relics. The Maidens. The silver eyes and their power… all of it.

…No, not quite all of it, actually – he'd kept to himself the fact that this humanity was not the first one to exist nor did he tell them of his own origins and curse. And he certainly didn't tell them of Salem's genuine immortality. That information would be far too much for them. That he's yet to even tell Glynda, Qrow, and James of that last detail said something. This was simply some bits of information that no one was quite ready for.

But nonetheless, he'd given the _relevant_ information and it more than sufficed for them.

The way all of them reacted with absolute shock… yes, it was good he'd stopped when he had. Telling them of his curse, while probably the least mindboggling thing out of everything, would've just been too much. Qrow or Glynda could tell them of his curse at a later point in time or he could do so himself. What mattered was that he communicated to them just how dire the situation currently was, if only on the grand scale.

Again, it was worth reiterating that what he'd had to say had stumped them all, with many of them looking wobbly in the knees from the sheer mental overload. Not even the normally stoic Lie Ren of JNPR seemed so collected anymore.

…Except for Jaune Arc, however. Oh, the blond leader of JNPR very much sported a look of genuine surprise on his face, but at the same time it was obvious from even a quick glance that the teen was taking it all in much better than his friends. More than that, he could already see the teen recovering from the shock too, his blue eyes narrowing in deep thought.

"…That is the overall situation," Ozpin finally finished up after letting them have a minute to recover themselves. "I understand it's more a lot to take in – more than a lot – but I cannot say enough how badly it is needed for us all to come together."

"H-Headmaster," Ms. Nikos started in an unsteady voice. "Is… I… Just how have you and the others been combatting all this?"

At that, Ozpin couldn't help but smile brittlely. "Not easily, Ms. Nikos. Given the sheer number of Grimm in existence, Salem's forces have a vastly superior numerical advantage, more than enough to crush any human resistance. It is only thanks to Grimm hordes being suppressed before they could truly form either through overwhelming human might or usage of the Relics that the kingdoms have been able to come together in the first place. But even then, simply by being themselves, the Grimm have long since been picking away at all human settlements. From the moment this war against Salem began, it was a war of attrition… and on that front, we will eventually lose."

"I don't get it," Ms. Xiao Long now spoke up, her normally lively demeanor returning but with a critical look about her. "If you've been using these Relics every now and then to push back Grimm and stuff, then why not just do that now? Why let things just get potentially worse?"

Ozpin sighed. "Because as I explained, the Relics are what Salem wants. To take them out of their respective vaults, if only for a brief time, is to risk exposing them. With her having long since employed human agents to sabotage the kingdoms, that is just one risk we've long since been unable to take. For Salem to even obtain one Relic puts her at an even far greater advantage than ever before."

"Which has happened as of yesterday…" Ms. Belladonna now mumbled.

He closed his eyes in sorrow. In the course of his explanation, he'd also told them of what had happened just recently concerning Leonardo and the Relic of Knowledge.

"Which is why," Glynda now spoke, stepping in for him while he got caught up in his emotions though he could still focus on her. "We can't afford to bring any of the other Relics out so hastily."

"But with this Relic of Knowledge, can't she just ask where the Relics are exactly?" Ms. Belladonna questioned.

"She could," Glynda continued. "She just might. But even if she does so, she'd still need to figure out a way for her forces to slip inside and get the Relics out of there. Of course, she could also ask how to circumvent our defenses, but then she'd use up the remainder of the questions for this generation. For her, that wouldn't be too big a loss due to her longevity, but it would still potentially set back some plans she may have."

Ozpin opened his eyes now and motioned to Glynda that he'll take over talking once again. "We are considering relocating the Relics as another precaution, but that isn't something we could so easily do as I've explained. Even if we could move them today, we would need to take additional precautions to make sure they aren't stolen in mid-transport."

At his words, Ms. Xiao Long shook her head in disbelief. "Holy shit… I can't believe I'm actually here talking about stuff like this…"

Ozpin's mouth twitched slightly into a smile, understanding the Y of RWBY's amazement, but he suppressed it ruthlessly. "I understand that you all have many questions in light of all this… but perhaps you should all take the rest of the day to digest this. Perhaps tomorrow morning, we can all meet once again and go over things."

As much urgency as there was right now in needing to stay ahead of Salem, he couldn't simply force these eight teens to suddenly start marching to his tune here and now. In his haste during previous lives, he's done just that… and more often than not, trying to make people do as he wished right off the bat had disastrous results, rightfully so.

That was yet one of many things he couldn't afford having play out this time around. Salem was far too close now to driving them all to the very brink and beyond. If giving RWBY and JNPR until tomorrow morning to sort their thoughts out is what it would take to ensure they could all properly work together, then that's what will have to happen.

Besides, he still needs to coordinate with James and Qrow on their respective fronts – the former would be looking into the defenses in place for the Relic of Creation to ensure its safety while the latter had already been deployed towards the Grimmlands to search for any traces of the one who took the Relic. Raven and her tribe had also been tasked with tracking down whoever stole the Relic of Knowledge too within Mistral's territories. Given just how fresh Leonardo's corpse had apparently been, the Relic must have only just been stolen yesterday. Granted, that gave whoever took it – likely Tyrian Callows – a considerable head-start, but both Branwen siblings were expert trackers and he's also made use of his many connections to get any and all flights and cruises within a hundred miles of Haven grounded for one reason or another and inspected in case the man had snuck aboard any ship. Hopefully, Raven could also look into whatever criminal contacts she had too to check if Tyrian had tried alternate methods of swiftly covering ground.

The hope was that Tyrian could be intercepted and the Relic taken back before it could fall permanently into Salem's hands.

"Headmaster…" Ms. Rose suddenly spoke up, snapping him out of his thoughts. "With what you said about my silver eyes…"

"Yes, what about them?" he responded gently.

The girl bowed her head for a second, seemingly steeling herself. "My mom had silver eyes too… did she… maybe have something to do with this war against Salem?"

Ozpin did a good job keeping his cool outwardly, but inwardly he was hurting at the sight of the young girl's expression. "…Yes, she did. Alongside the rest of team STRQ, she willingly joined the fight against Salem all those years ago. She'd learned to harness the latent power of the silver eyes to an incredible degree and proved to live up to the legend of silver eyed people being the best warriors… She'd gone on a mission into the Grimmlands, where she'd encountered unknown complications… and we lost contact with her immediately thereafter."

He looked at the girl with sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry, Ms. Rose," he said, letting his true self – that of a man exhausted from centuries of loss and failure – show through. "Had I known of what would befall your mother, I would've done all I could to ensure she made it home safe and sound. Much like your uncle and father, she was a dear friend."

Ms. Rose bowed her head again, the girl looking to be on the verge of tears. Even so, she managed to hold the tears back. "I… Thank you, headmaster," she said softly after several seconds. When she looked back up, it was with a look of steel about her. "This really is a whole lot to take in… but I'm gonna do my best to help out. I've always wanted to be like my mom – a great huntress that always bring happy endings about… it's about time I start trying to do just that."

The ancient wizard smiled now, genuinely at that. Even Glynda, stern as she always is, looked at Ms. Rose with a tenderness she rarely showed anyone. Ms. Rose truly possessed a simple soul. And as he once thought, that may very well be what is needed to triumph against Salem in the end.

And speaking of simple souls…

Ozpin now directed his attention towards Mr. Arc. For all the young man's enigma, he too appeared to possess a simple and straightforward soul, albeit one backed by a truly absurd power and keen mind.

As if sensing his gaze, Mr. Arc ceased to blankly stare straight ahead and now matched his gaze. "Mr. Arc," Ozpin began slowly. "Before we call this meeting to an end, are there any comments to make on your part?"

Given just how many surprises the blond has come at him with up until now, Ozpin's interest in the teen's war potential – a term that honestly sickened him, but had to be said nonetheless – was at an all time high. To say he was interested in what the teen would have to say was quite an understatement.

"None at the moment," the blond leader began neutrally, only for his serious expression to then shift marginally. "…No, on second thought…"

"Yes?"

"In light of the attack on city hall, the incident just yesterday that my team and RWBY were involved in yesterday, and headmaster Lionheart's murder, just what is the immediate plan going immediately forward?" the blond asked. "With everything you've just told us, it's now clear that Salem's plan is to cripple Vale from within before steamrolling the entire kingdom with Grimm… all in order to give her all the time needed to search for the Relic of… of Choice, right? In hindsight, it's now obvious that Hazel and whoever else is with him are here to cause mass panic and bring low Vale's defenses, which just makes them that much greater of a priority to deal with… and considering the spontaneous event yesterday, they'd probably just left the kingdom for the time being… and that means that they'll be back at some point to pick up from where they'd left off."

Ozpin blinked, as did Glynda.

Even the other students here blinked and exchanged looks of genuine surprise.

The students had all been so utterly overwhelmed by all the info he'd essentially dumped on them that the few of them who've spoken so far have asked only one or two questions at a time and even then, it was just for some minor clarity regarding the current overall picture. As to be expected given their current shock. And yet, here Jaune Arc already was, seemingly fully recovered from the shock of it all and asking questions about the immediate future in addition to providing an excellent point in the process.

Alas, in light of that, Ozpin could only answer in an almost lame tone. "As of now, we've nothing concrete in mind," he slowly admitted. "Due to Hazel's extremely high level of power and martial might in addition to whoever else is supporting him here, there's no proper protocol in place to deal with threats so… unique. Compared to the sort of people Salem has used as her puppets before, her current generation of agents are outliers, Hazel especially. But make no mistake, my allies and I are trying to think up something here. Sadly, while Hazel is someone well known to us, the identity of this mysterious hacker or whomever is with him is completely unknown to us, which is what is giving us such trouble."

The blond nodded. "Information is power… and in this case, the lack of concrete information is this mystery hacker's power…"

"Indeed." Ozpin could only nod in full agreement. "But you say they've left Vale? Earlier during your explanation of yesterday, you didn't say you saw an aircraft or some other vessel flee the scene."

"We saw nothing of the sort," Mr. Arc confirmed. "But in light of everything, it's clear it was just a distraction meant to keep us busy. There's no way such a thing would've happened unless we'd been closing in on them and if they could pull off something like that, then attacking us wouldn't have been much more of an issue most likely. That the oddity yesterday ceased after ten or so minutes hints to me that they'd simply chosen to fall back instead. Retreating deeper into Vale, while feasible, wouldn't make much sense since we would've just kept on searching and eventually force their hand again. With that in mind, it would just make much more sense if they left Vale outright with the intent to return to the kingdom at a later time."

"And if they were able to cause the incident yesterday, to say nothing of the fact they've remained hidden up until yesterday," Ozpin now added, murmuring more to himself than speaking to the others. "Then they'd no doubt have the capability to sneak back into Vale as needed…"

He couldn't help but shake his head slightly. Once again, Mr. Arc was surprising him with how sharp he is. All this information is the sort of stuff most students wouldn't be able to pick up on – no offense meant to any of his students both past and current, but as teens, they're not going to focus much on the greater picture unless truly needed.

"…Thank you, Mr. Arc," Ozpin then said, nodding in gratitude. "…You've given me much to think about just now. But please – go back to your dorms, all of you. Try to take some time to truly take this all in. Rest up. And tomorrow morning, after breakfast, please come back here – there will be much more to discuss."

With the veritable bomb he'd dropped on them, none of the students seemed too keen on trying to argue with him right now, instead only able to do no more than just share some looks between each other.

Then, after a moment, they all slowly took their leave after bidding him and Glynda a good night. Only Mr. Arc, once again proving how special an individual he clearly was, seemed to stride out of the room without so much a pause in his steps. He might as well have been having just an everyday conversation with them rather than having been on the receiving end of several life-altering revelations.

After they left, Glynda sighed, grabbing his attention. "I know that with all that's happened, our hand has been forced… but I really do hope we don't go too far on this matter, Ozpin. I will not doubt the resolve they all showed earlier, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with us potentially making them do things they just aren't ready for, circumstances be damned. If making others do things they don't want to do, things that they probably just aren't even remotely capable of doing, was that easy, things never would've gotten to this point."

Ozpin nodded, gracefully conceding to that point. If there was one thing that truly bothered him about this war against Salem, it was just how many he's had to manipulate in order to succeed in keeping Salem ultimately at bay. The phrase 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' has never been more true than for him. That there were still some secrets he was keeping from Glynda, Qrow, and James said a lot about how much he'd been manipulating them too, even if he did truly value them as his friends.

To now do the same with children that were not even in their twenties… it hurt him. It honestly felt as if some other piece of his withering soul had just shriveled up for good and died.

"I know, Glynda. Truly, I do." He stared at the door to his office, still picturing the forms of his students from earlier. It filled him with pride to see that resolve in their eyes, even with how shaken they'd been with what he's told them, but his pride was kept in check by the situation at hand.

Using young people in this war against Salem was by no means anything new for him but using first years of all people was something a bit novel. Normally, he truly would never consider such a thing, for no matter how talented any number of individuals may be, they were still only first years who've yet to truly tap into their potential. It was only due to Ms. Rose's silver eyes, Pyrrha Nikos' potential as the next Maiden candidate in case circumstances called for it, and Jaune Arc's own abnormal power that he was even already considering ways to utilize them out in the field. Plus, not even Salem herself would probably think him desperate enough to use first years to even think of directly combating her forces, so there was that too, no matter how marginal an advantage it was.

But he and his allies needed every advantage they could get. By the Gods, he could only hope that this move of his won't be in vain.

Not for his sake, for the sake of both RWBY and JNPR… he's lost too many people already. To lose such bright, young souls because of his own failings would be just too much to bear.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by in what felt like the blink of the eye. Given just how late it'd already been by the time they'd even gone to see the headmaster, it wasn't as if they'd missed out on much as a result, except for having to have a late dinner, but none of them minded so much. After all, they had far too much on their minds to even consider worrying over something as trivial as eating later than usual.

Of course, because there was just so much on the minds of both RWBY and JNPR, when it finally came time for them to head to bed early for the night, it proved all but impossible. As a result, much time was spent with each team speaking quietly of what they'd just learned within the confines of their dorms and it wasn't until well past midnight that they finally retired for the night, albeit reluctantly.

Jaune was the only exception here, still awake and alert even though it was now already three in the morning. This whole time, he'd just been lying there under the covers and staring at the ceiling the whole time.

His mind was a whirlwind of thought and yet there was an oddly structural nature to this seemingly messy mental state of his, things clicking into place like pieces of a massive puzzle. And with each piece of this figurative puzzle falling into place, he only felt that much more energized, fatigue being an alien thing to him as of this moment.

With the full picture now in place – the _relevant_ picture, that is; he still felt that the headmaster had been leaving some details out for some reason – he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of… well, a sense of fulfillment. A eureka moment, one could say.

This was it, he felt, this conflict truly was something he was meant to be a part of. Not to carry it out, not to merely be a footnote in this ongoing war, but to outright _end_ this conflict for the sake of everyone.

And when that particular thought formed in his mind, his whole body practically seized up, as if he was about to have a massive seizure. Such was the sheer impact this thought had on him in this moment.

From the very moment the headmaster had first told him of Salem's existence, Jaune had felt a sense of purpose about him that had bordered on nirvana almost. And yet despite that, he'd still felt… off. But in hindsight yet again, he realized that feeling was due to lacking the full picture. And again, even though he felt the headmaster was still leaving out some details here and there, the more complete picture he now had was enough for him.

Could it be…?

In light of his second battle against Hazel, he'd come to the conclusion that his semblance's influence upon him was ultimately just an amplification of traits that he already had… but what if there was something else to it too? Not necessarily some grand fate or destiny for him, for that implied he had no control whatsoever over the matter, but something similar enough where he still could choose to get involved and whatnot.

And get involved he will do… and end this conflict he will intend to do.

Yes, now more than ever, this was his chance to save people. Just how many centuries or even longer have people been plagued by the Grimm, with Salem at the helm? If there was indeed a way to defeat her, then he would gladly do whatever he could to make it happen. And who knows? Perhaps in this process, he and the others could even learn of a way to be permanently rid of the Grimm too. No longer would people, especially those out on the frontier, have to live in fear of the Grimm. No longer would there be fatalities at the beasts of darkness' collective hands.

Of course, even if such a thing was possible, it wouldn't be as if conflict itself would cease to be – conflict was just a part of nature; so long as life existed, others would always clash for one reason or another. But even so… if by eliminating Salem and the Grimm could prove possible now, either by his own hands or through perhaps the usage of these Relics and whatnot, then it was a possibility well worth trying to make into reality.

But with the scale of this conflict now fully known to him, Jaune also realized how underprepared he and his friends were for all this. That the headmaster and his allies have been fighting this war for so long and were now on the visible backfoot despite their greater level of experience and resources said much about how difficult combating Salem would be. That Salem had the likes of Hazel on her side as well only added to the difficulty.

This was truly an uphill battle. But Jaune would strive to meet the challenge wholeheartedly.

And on that note….

Silently getting out of bed, Jaune grabbed his scroll and dialed the headmaster's office number after heading into the bathroom for some privacy.

The headmaster answered before the second ring could even begin. Whether the man was just a light sleeper who'd chosen to sleep away in his office or had simply been that busy coordinating things was unknown, but the blond was leaning more towards the latter in light of everything.

"Mr. Arc, is something the matter?" the headmaster immediately asked without missing even a single step, which only further leant credence to the blond leader's latter hypothesis.

"No, nothing of the sort," Jaune began slowly. "Just… I know we'll likely be discussing this after breakfast, but I just couldn't help but say it now – if my friends and I are to help make a difference, then we're going to need to be much more prepared than we are now."

"On that, we're in full agreement," the headmaster responded instantly and quite bluntly. For it was very much true. No matter how talented and dedicated his friends may be, they were still only first year trainees. Going up against a foe as long lived and cunning as Salem, with all the Grimm at her command and people like Hazel under her thumb would be suicidal as they currently are. Even for him, well aware of his own abnormality, it would be ridiculous to march against these forces underprepared.

Granted, it's not as if training intensely for however many weeks or months will suddenly allow them to directly combat Hazel and other people of a similar level to him on even footing. It just wasn't going to happen. If first year trainees could be brought up to a level in just a few months where they can challenge and defeat professional huntsmen level foes with years or even decades more experience than them was that quick and easy, then what would even be the point of four year academies like Beacon?

That said, well, Jaune himself would be an exception, but again that was due to the abnormality known as his semblance.

Even if such a thing was possible, time was of the essence. Even if his friends and he could be brought up to a level ready to fight directly alongside the likes of professor Goodwitch and Ruby's and Yang's uncle Qrow, that would still take months and that was time they simply didn't have.

There was just far too much to do in terms of getting ready. Everyone training as intensely as they could, Ruby learning to harness the mysterious power of those silver eyes of hers, even himself… he honestly didn't even know where to begin.

But even so, as muddled as his thoughts were right now on that matter, Jaune still managed to swiftly continue speaking. "Quite recently, I'd managed to get a replacement for the blade that was destroyed during the mission in Sol. The blacksmith had added a Dust function to it, headmaster. I'm thinking of getting my other blade upgraded so that it has the same feature."

"Oh?" The headmaster seemed intrigued. "I didn't know you were dabbling in Dust usage, Mr. Arc… but I do approve."

"No… I haven't used Dust in a long time," Jaune replied, just a bit sheepishly. "I tried back when I was first starting out on the frontier… the results tended to be explosive. I haven't used Dust since then due to how oddly unsuccessful I've been at using it at the time. I haven't even had a chance to try out the Dust function of my blade yet… but even so, I'm going to need every advantage I can get, especially since a third battle between me and Hazel feels inevitable."

"I see. Well, given our… partnership now, I see no problem in getting your other blade modified. As we both very well know, this is certainly no time to be sitting around for our foes' next move." The headmaster, though somewhat surprised by his sudden admission, seemed to also sound approvingly. Looks like Jaune's penchant for taking initiative was an admirable trait. "But, Mr. Arc, even if we do go down this route, you'll still be left with only two blades to use here… even if you do learn how to use Dust proficiently in conjunction with your blades, you'd then find yourself hard-pressed to switch Dust types should it come to it, not unless you're willing to switch out replacement blades or the like."

"Then let's just make more blades," Jaune immediately said.

At that, the headmaster became silent. A second goes by before the man speaks up again. "…Mr. Arc, if that's what you want, you'd be walking around with not just two blades anymore, but possibly up to seven blades total."

"That's exactly right, headmaster," Jaune answered strongly. "It may seem impractical, but I'll make it work. I have to."

"…Very well. I'll put in a request for the blades right now. When you and your friends come see me in several hours, leave your unmodified blade with me so that I may send it in for modification. As for any other preparations that need to be considered, for yourself and for the others, we can discuss that at the meeting too."

"Thank you very much, headmaster," Jaune said gratefully. "I'll make the most of it once they're ready."

There was yet again another brief pause on the headmaster's part before he spoke again. "…I know you will, Mr. Arc. Just try not to push yourself too far – we need all the manpower possible for whatever our foes may have planned next."

"Understood. Try to get some rest, sir."

"You as well, Mr. Arc."

Jaune then ended the call and proceeded to just stand there within the pitch-black restroom, having not even bothered to turn on the light when he'd first stepped inside. As he stood there, he envisioned, or tried to, what exactly would come next.

He honestly couldn't imagine what exactly Salem and her forces would do next, but he knew one thing – it wouldn't be long before Vale is once again filled with chaos.

* * *

Ozpin stared at his phone as though it was some alien object. No, not necessarily at the phone itself, but rather he tried to stare through it at who'd been on the other end of the call just now – Jaune Arc. Obviously, he failed at this endeavor, but he could nonetheless picture the blond leader standing before him all too well.

Once again, he found himself taken aback by the young man's abnormality. Though the boy was still clearly taking in all that he and his friends have learned earlier, he was taking to it all too well, just a bit too quickly…

…It was rather disconcerting, to be perfectly honest now.

Between the blond teen's previously unnaturally focused and awkward mental state from before the mission to Sol and his clearly abnormal power and growth rate, Ozpin was of the opinion now more than ever that Jaune Arc was by no means like others. It wasn't simply something that could be attributed to a semblance either, no matter what sort of mental influence the still unknown semblance may have on the teen, but something else entirely…

But that what that something was, not even Ozpin could fathom.

At any rate, it didn't seem like this otherness was necessarily a bad thing… but he found JNPR's leader to once again be all too eager to throw himself into danger for the sake of others. Even with the improvements to the teen's mental state in more recent days and weeks, Jaune Arc was still someone who possessed traits not found in most others at all.

Ozpin sighed as he thought on that.

Ultimately, though, there wasn't really anything he could do about that, at least not at this point in time. For all his oddities, Mr. Arc is genuinely a good person, one driven to do the right thing no matter the odds. To be suspicious of him would be wrong, if only because of how painfully earnest he is in his desire to help people and combat 'evil.'

The ancient wizard just truly hoped the blond wouldn't push himself too far. He was swiftly proving himself to be a very valuable ally… and asset. To push himself to his breaking point so soon would be a terrible thing to have happen for an entire host of reasons.

But such what-ifs were things he really couldn't afford to dwell on right now. There was still so very much to do.

He'd been coordinating not just with James just now, but also Qrow who'd confirmed his arrival to the borders of the Grimmland, in addition to him having been making constant phone calls to connections he's long since established in the other kingdoms, all for the sake of staying apprised of any and all oddities, now more so than ever. After all, just because Salem was clearly gearing up to take down Vale didn't mean she couldn't be making preparations to stir up chaos in the other kingdoms. Tight coordination was thus required to make sure everything seemed okay for the time being.

…He did nonetheless take a moment or two right now to make a request for the swords Mr. Arc so desired. It'd be rude, after all, if he just forgot about such an earnest request from a student just because he was busy with other stuff.

* * *

 **Yeah, as you can see, just a revelation chapter of sorts, one for both sides involved. In Jaune's case, he got to hear the full** _ **relevant**_ **story behind Salem and her general plans and Ozpin got to realize for good that something is truly different about Jaune… and that difference may not entirely be something due to his semblance.**

 **In any case, Jaune and his friends are now in on the secret for the most part. But don't think they're just going to be Ozpin's pawns now or anything. They'll still very much have their own autonomy, but once again it is Ozpin who holds all the cards when it comes to information on the grand scale of things. However, as noted in this chapter, Ozpin and his allies are not in a good position strategically so it's not as if they're going to be manipulating JNPR and RWBY left and right or whatever. Ozpin recognizes this, especially after hearing all that both teams had to say about their own unsanctioned activities and though it went explicitly unsaid, he realizes he'd be a fool to try making them do exactly as he tells them to do.**

 **After all, as I'm sure we all know quite well, if people work best when provided target goals and are left to their own devices in carrying them out, then just leave them be unless it seems like they may screw up. This is what will happen in this case – Ozpin isn't going to micromanage either team. He'll provide them all the assistance they will need, but if he needs them to look into something or whatever, he isn't going to be giving them a huge list of do's and don'ts. Hope that makes sense.**

 **As for Jaune, if it feels like he's kind of regressing to how he was before the second battle with Hazel, there is a reason for that and it will be expanded upon in later chapters. The exact nature of his semblance will also be finally explained in good time too.**

 **As for him wanting more blades and the like, it's to give him that much more of an edge in battle when he goes up against Hazel. He knows fully well that despite his own power growing all the time, power alone won't always make a difference; versatility is needed, especially since as far as he knows, there's no telling what else could possibly be thrown his way now. All he knows for certain is that compared to all the other threats he's gone up against up until now, Hazel and Salem are in a league all their own.**

 **Oh and his inspiration for this fic, Christopher Valzelide/Keraunos from the Silverio VN series, is known for using 7 blades too. I'm just making him more like the guy in that regard, heh.**

 **Anyways, hope that all makes sense. Expect things to pick up in the next few chapters.**

 **Until next time, everyone. As always, please stay safe out there, now more so than ever before.**


	44. Chapter 44

Hey there, everyone. Hope you all have been well.

Recently, my parents and two friends of theirs went to a casino – Pechangas, if I remember right. It came as a surprise to us all to hear of it being open, but they were definitely happy about it. As for me, well, I'm divided on the matter. On the one hand, it's a sign the economy can start to steadily reopen but the other hand, well, with everything that's still going on and the like, I'm just naturally cautious about stuff like this.

That said, maybe I've gotten too paranoid. From what my parents told me, the casino has taken certain security measures – redoing some sections of the casino entirely in addition to requiring everyone to wear masks and sit at least a few feet apart. Still, can't help but feel it's not enough, but again, maybe I'm just being too paranoid nowadays. Easy to be that with the way the world is right now, sadly…

Anyways, just thought I should just bring that up. Wherever you guys happen to live at, hope things are looking up for you and your respective communities. If this really is a sign the states can slowly open back up and businesses can resume, then hopefully within a month or two, the economy can start really bouncing back.

In any case, stay safe out there, you all. 2020 isn't over yet by a long shot.

P.S. Please see AN at end for some fic related info again.

P.P.S. Anyone else looking forward to Miles Morales' first game? Resident Evil 8 too?

Chapter 44

It was with a great deal of concentration that Watts sat upon some random boulder out in the wilds. With the way he sat in a lotus position, eyes closed and arms at rest upon his lap, it would be easy to mistake him for meditator of the highest degree, if only due to how perfectly still and even serene he looked. It was only his suit and the seemingly amused upturns of his mouth that broke this image.

He's been in this position for about a half hour now, motionless as could be, looking inwards in an attempt to discern what changes had exactly occurred within him as a result of his self-performed operation not even two full days ago.

Ever since his and Hazel's departure from Vale, he's started to get random flashes of numbers – ones and zeros, to be more precise – whenever he looked upon the world around him. And after making their way to a nice little corner of the wilds where they wouldn't be so easily disturbed, Watts had started to see these numbers much more frequently. It wasn't until he began to look inwards and started to take control of his own changing body that the numbers ceased to fully fill his vision.

But the numbers, just what did they mean? That was the first and currently only question that occupied the man initially… but then, just last night, he'd had a flash of intuition and now here he was in the early hours of the morning trying to see if he could his now fully formed hypothesis into practice.

It was very slow going, but he eventually managed to consciously make himself see the ones and zeros again as he finally opened his eyes – and these numbers, they quite literally made up _everything_ around him. _Everything._

From the ground to the leaves upon it as well as the bugs and the trees and even the very fabric of space itself… all was now appearing as numbers to him. Hazel and the aircraft they'd taken out of Vale, both of which were nearby with his associate clinically observing him, were naturally not exempt from this either.

Watts let out a little sound as he realized he was indeed right.

Ones and zeros… in other words, the binary system, effectively the language of computers and codes… and as anyone savvy when it comes to technology knows, that sort of thing… can be manipulated.

Did the same hold true in this case, however? Physically reaching out at the open space before him and tapping away as if there were computer keys in front of him swiftly proved to be a failure; from an outside perspective, it would seem as if Watts was some kind of manchild, just acting like some kid who pretended to literally rule the world.

However, Watts was far from embarrassed by this failure and Hazel nearby didn't seem even the slightest bit amused by this, just continuing to watch in complete silence for he clearly knew Watts was figuring things out bit by bit.

"Hmm…" Watts retracted his outstretched hand to rub his chin, rethinking things. The ones and zeros can clearly be interacted with somehow, but simple physical actions weren't going to work it seemed. Was he perhaps missing something?

…

…

…Ah!

That's right. How could he forget something so basic?

Aura… aura was what he was missing in all this. Just as any aura user worth their salt could strengthen even a simple rolled up newspaper to the point of being able to deflect strikes from an actual weapon, perhaps he could do something similar here. But of course, in the case of his example just now, aura is required to be funneled into the newspaper in order to interact with it in such a way. So, with this in mind…

He once more closed his eyes and concentrated. Though not a fighter by nature, he still was adept at using his aura in the same manner a huntsman does, using it for both defense and offense. And though he shall freely admit to lacking in combat skill, his skill at manipulating aura was certainly not lagging behind. After all, with all the work he'd put into making the Eternal Motor in the first place, he's had to refine his aura control to a point where he could safely use his own aura to speed up the particles within his creation in the first place.

Thus, it didn't take long at all for his efforts here to bear fruit.

As even space itself was comprised of ones and zeros before his very eyes, there was no way he could physically interact with it obviously. In the case of literally everything else, this wasn't the case since they could be touched but in either case, aura was needed. Since it would be just a tad bit troublesome to have to alternate pouring aura into one object to use it a certain way and then doing so with other objects in the midst of a fierce battle, he needed to find out a way for him to be able to manipulate literally anything in the blink of an eye.

Thus, his solution was simple – merely project a portion of his aura outwards.

Doing this was not hard at all. After all, aura users always project their aura directly around themselves as a personal barrier. He was no exception, but in this case, he was merely expanding the barrier further out.

Due to the level of concentration involved as well as the fact this was the first time he's ever done such a thing, however, his aura swiftly became visible to the naked eye, green energy seemingly manifesting all around him up to just two feet away.

Given enough time and practice, Watts was certain he could expand that range much more, but that was not the point right now.

What was the point… was this.

Slowly reaching out to a falling leaf that the wind blew within his little sphere, he grabbed it. And then, just as he would with a computer code, he proceeded to effectively _rewrite_ it.

Before his and Hazel's very eyes, the leaf changed. From its previous small and brittle state, it was now twice its original size and made entirely out of stone.

Watts was so engrossed by this sight that his concentration slipped and his sphere returned to nothingness… but the altered leaf still very much remained within his hand.

He turned his head to Hazel and the two of them stared at one another in dead silence.

And then, Watts flashed a dark smile.

In the grand scheme of things, changing a leaf into a larger stone one wasn't much in and of itself… but it did speak a lot as to the potential of his new ability.

Needless to say, there was now so much more for Watts to figure out here with it. And he absolutely relished the challenge.

* * *

It was with a great sense of glee that Salem sat upon her throne with her latest possession in her hands – the Relic of Knowledge.

Tyrian had proven his fanatical loyalty once again by way of simply not taking any breaks at all until he'd brought the Relic here to her. Alas, such a journey had left the deranged Faunus dead tired and the man had been about to fall asleep on his feet despite his best efforts to remain awake just an hour ago when he'd knelt before her to present the object.

She'd granted him a well-deserved reprieve and currently her most loyal agent was sleeping peacefully within a room prepared for him by some Seers. Once he awakened, she would provide him Hazel's and Watts' current location and he would go to link up with them just as she'd previously told him to do so.

By all rights, she should be making use of this Relic right here and now. Why, she should've done so the very instant Tyrian had brought it to her. After all, despite her having told Tyrian to ensure there were no visible traces of the vault having been accessed, she knew that the very instant Ozma was made aware of Leonardo's death, that the man would find a way to check up on the vault itself.

There wasn't even a single shred of doubt that as soon as the news reached him, Ozma must have made use of his many connections to get all transports anywhere near Haven academy grounded and inspected for any 'stowaways.' He also very likely sent out some agents to comb the lands of Mistral as well as the border between her 'kingdom' and the rest of the continent as an extra precaution, likely in the hopes of intercepting Tyrian before he could make it here.

Alas, Ozma and his forces had no way of knowing the truly incredible degree of Tyrian's loyalty to her. Any and all actions the ancient wizard may have taken would no doubt see anyone else be caught in short order… but that's only because that would be taking into account the natural limits of anyone else.

Anyone else would only be able to cover so much ground before needing to at least drink something and rest. Anyone else would only be able to cover so much ground due the difficulty that comes with traversing through and around natural obstacles like ravines, hills, mountains and so on.

There was, at least from Ozma's perspective, no way to account for someone like Tyrian, someone who'd travel across areas spanning hundreds of kilometers at top speed, without so much as slowing down to rest for even a single second, someone who has long since been willing and outright eager to kill anyone if it somehow meant achieving a certain goal that much sooner, which is exactly what Tyrian had done, having threatened and slain several bullhead pilots on his swift trek back here. It was truly amazing just how much distance a bullhead could cover when pushed to its absolute limit. It helped too that she made sure no Grimm bothered Tyrian during his journey back here. The absolute last thing needed would be for one of her own subjects to impede the work of one of her agents.

But more than all that, this was due again to Tyrian's complete and utter devotion to her. He was certainly a capable combatant and even more capable tracker, but even he obviously had limits, limits that he pushed himself far beyond in order to bring the Relic to her in such a speedy manner. There truly was no way for Ozma to account for something like that.

Yes, Tyrian truly had gone above and beyond what she'd expected of him.

And now, it was time to finally make the most of the scorpion Faunus' efforts.

Getting off her throne and walking forward a little, Salem lifted the Relic of Knowledge so that it was level with her eyes. Though it's been centuries since Ozma had first ever told her of the Relics, she still recalled all too well what he'd told her of them, including how to use them.

"Jinn," she called out in a commanding tone that brokered no argument of any kind, not that she was expecting any.

And true to form, the Relic responded.

To anyone else, they probably wouldn't be able to sense anything at all, but to her, she was all too sensitive to the immediate release of pure magical power, a power which accompanied the release of an ethereal blue fog from the Relic.

Before her very eyes, the fog swiftly took form and the being known as Jinn had now officially spawned into existence, in the form of an incredibly tall humanoid being, its form very much that of a woman, seemingly nude save for some choice golden jewelry around her waist and limbs, assuming that such was even jewelry to start with.

As the form appeared, Jinn's 'face' was the last thing to take shape, incredibly long hair forming in addition to some incredibly expressive facial features, especially the vibrant and soul-piercing blue eyes that this spirit of the Relic of Knowledge appeared to possess.

Despite herself, Salem couldn't help but be somewhat enraptured as Jinn manifested so quickly. To hear of what would happen upon summoning her was one thing, but to see it for herself was something else. But more than that, now that Jinn was fully formed and levitating in place before her, Salem could sense more than ever the sheer amount of magical power that the spirit was seemingly comprised. Such was the nature of a being created by the God of Light himself, she figured.

Just as she assessed the spirit, however, so too did Jinn seem to assess her. And from the looks of it, Jinn appeared to be amused.

"Well now," Jinn spoke in a smooth voice, not even remotely surprised by her own summoning. Given her status, this lack of surprise made sense. "This is a nice change of pace."

"…So," Salem began as she lowered the Relic, though making it a point to keep a firm grip on it. "You're the spirit within this blasted thing, are you not? Ah, and that is-."

"-Not the question you actually want an answer to," Jinn coolly finished for her. Her amusement visibly grew, the spirit's mouth quirking up into an even bigger smile than before. "Yes, I'm well aware."

Salem couldn't help but snort. Looks like the spirit was rather sassy.

"Oh? If you know something so obvious, then I'm sure you know what it is I really wish to ask right now," Salem spoke.

"I most certainly do, former princess of the tower," Jinn calmly replied, her words getting a twitch out of Salem. "But for formality's sake, it does help a great deal for whoever wants an answer to actually ask the question they want."

"…Tell me then, is there a way of summoning the God Brothers other than bringing together the Relics?" Salem asked, just getting straight to the point.

Jinn's reply was immediate, her smile never dropping. "No," she said. "If you truly wish for revenge upon them, you'll have to gather the Relics together."

At that, Salem sighed. She'd honestly figured as much. In any case, it had really only been in more recent decades where she'd wish to try taking revenge upon the God Brothers, and by using the power of the Relics themselves too. Back then, when she and Ozma had first spoken of all this, she'd merely wish to gather and destroy the Relics to ensure they would never come back, all so that she and Ozma at the time could've ruled humanity however they pleased… alas, times change.

Oh well, point is, she'd expected as much.

"There's now only one question remaining for this century," Jinn then said.

Those words snapped Salem out of her thoughts. "What?"

Jinn smirked. "You heard what I said, Salem. Only one question left."

Salem grimaced. Somehow, she'd expected as much too, but it was truly a waste that her one question so far ended up being for nothing.

No matter, she still held the advantage in this situation against Ozma and his current allies. Even if a reversal was possible on the man's part, it wasn't as if she was in that big a rush to achieve her goal in this century. After all, she had all the time in the world.

"So, whatever shall you do?" Jinn then asked, placing her hands on her hips as she levitated herself a little closer to Salem. "To me, it seems as if you're in quite the pickle."

Salem looked at her, now in disinterest. "You know all things past and present. Why even bother asking me anything is beyond me."

Jinn lightly chuckled. "Even one such as I enjoy conversations, you know. Especially since for so long now, the only one to ever speak to me was your former husband, whom I've long since tired of speaking to; he can be quite too blunt and focused on the matter at hand – not quite the sparkling conversationalist I'd have preferred to speak with."

Salem lightly rolled her eyes. "Be that as it may, you'll find no sympathy from me. Return to the Relic and leave me be until I've need of you again."

Jinn sighed. "Despite being on opposing sides, you and Ozma truly are a lot alike in little ways. Very well, I'll take my leave. But one last thing."

Salem, having turned her back on Jinn just now, turned back around to face the spirit. Her confusion was only marginally visible upon her deathly white visage.

Jinn smiled. "Do beware what it is your forces will be going up against in the future. The future may forever be out of my reach but even one such as I can make deductions based on present information – and I have _all_ the information, past and present, at hand… and I really must say, you may very well be in for a big surprise."

At that, Salem's eyes narrowed. "Why tell me this…? No, just what is it that you're even speaking of?"

Jinn, whose form was already beginning to dissipate and return to the Relic, looked at her with half-lidded eyes. "Just which question do you want an answer to now?" she asked in a knowing tone.

Salem shook her head, now exasperated. What a cheeky spirit. "For you to even think of giving _me_ a warning, vague as it may be… you're supposed to be on humanity's side, yet you'd do such a thing? You are truly like your creator in a few ways yourself."

Rather than take offense, Jinn just laughed as her form fully dissipated and the fog returned to the Relic. As soon as the spirit fully did so, Salem huffed and placed the Relic of Knowledge directly by her throne before taking a seat in it again.

She mulled over the conversation just now. In the end, the plans already set in motion would remain as they were. Again, it was worth repeating that this wasn't a problem at all; she held the advantage against Ozma and his forces and there was currently no option the man had at hand to truly change things. Perhaps mitigate the inevitable carnage, but not avert it.

But still… just what did Jinn mean? Considering that Jinn is the spirit of knowledge, she knows very well everything that Salem has at her disposal now as well as what Ozma's forces and current plans are comprised of. Though the spirit had quickly demonstrated itself to be a tease, Jinn wouldn't just be acting like that without some sort of reason.

…So, could it be? Did Ozma perhaps have some kind of wild card? Something capable of possibly turning the tide in his favor or at least forcing a stalemate during this era?

Salem thought back to the handful of dreams she's had over the past several months or so, the vague prophetic ones. In particular, she recalled the one she'd had that showed her most of the battle between Hazel and the young Jaune Arc in Vale.

Was the young Arc supposed to this 'surprise' that Jinn had just hinted at a minute ago? Certainly, his power was abnormal, but as things stood he wasn't at a level great enough to affect her plans. Although… it did appear as if the boy's power had been growing considerably over the course of the fight… but no. Power alone wouldn't be enough to stop her.

Did Jinn then mean Ruby Rose, the young girl Ozma had under his thumb who wielded the silver eyes? She most definitely doubted the girl would ever pose a threat to her. In the very beginning, when silver eyed warriors had first appeared, they'd been a genuine threat to her plans if only for how effective they were against the Grimm, but over the many years, as she'd learned their general limits and had begun to employ humans and Faunus warriors alike, the silver eyed warriors had since then become nothing more than a nuisance to her. A significant nuisance, but not great enough to be deemed an actual threat to her plans, much less to her – she is a being of endless life and no silver eyed warrior had ever demonstrated power great enough to overcome that.

And if the girl's mother, Summer Rose, had failed spectacularly in trying to defeat her despite her considerable talent, then Ruby Rose was far from ready to even try attempting such a feat.

The possibility of the Maidens turning the tide was also out. The Maidens may be powerful by the standards of this era, but they were nothing compared to her and Ozma back in his prime. And while their magical power may be infinite, that didn't mean the Maidens themselves possessed infinite stamina or invulnerability. They could be worn down just like any other human and be crippled by severe injury or disease or just fatigue in general.

So just what did Jinn mean…?

Salem shook her head. "It makes no difference," she whispered to herself. Whatever surprise Jinn spoke of wasn't exactly about to appear at her doorstep and not any time soon from the sounds of it. She'd taken all precautions as well and her remaining forces – Hazel, Watts, and Tyrian – are all capable in their own right. Even if something did happen to catch them off guard, they would no doubt adapt and deal with whatever threat appears as needed.

Thus, in the meantime, all she can do is continue to prepare things on her end. That meant continuing to modify Grimm as she saw fit and figuring out ways to perhaps circumvent the security at the other kingdoms in order to obtain the other Relics, though this wasn't a goal that needed to be achieved right away. So long as she could crush Vale along with Ozma's current allies, that'd be more than to cripple the security of the other kingdoms as well.

It was only a matter of time until her victory was at hand.

* * *

Jaune held his modified blade before him, critiquing it in silence.

It was currently just after breakfast and as it was a free day, he'd decided to see for himself just how things would go with using Dust.

On an aside, he and his friends had already gone and spoken with the headmaster over what to do next. As of right now, there wasn't anything immediate that had to be done other than to start preparing for when things inevitably go bad yet again. He'd already turned over his unmodified blade to the headmaster and it should be modified and delivered back to him within a day or two while the rest of the blades the headmaster had been kind enough to order for him will arrive within a week, give or take a few days.

Other than that, the meeting hadn't really covered all that much other than some training tips to help his friends improve as much as possible within a relatively short time period, in addition to the headmaster and his other allies being willing to supply them with as much Dust and other equipment as needed to ensure they were prepared.

On that particular note, Ruby was already hard at work within Beacon's weapons maintenance room, outfitting her Crescent Rose with some new parts to ensure better accuracy and faster bullets while Pyrrha was there too in order to perhaps reinforce her weapon's frame and extend its general melee range. As for Ren and Nora, his two teammates were hard at work trying to improve in their own ways. The former was in Beacon's gym, lifting weights in order to bulk up a bit. Of course, Ren didn't intend to get all buff like Cardin or something, very much wanting to retain his speed and agility but the fact of the matter is is that he is rather frail when compared to most other trainees and has about average stamina, weaknesses he wished to now be rid of to some degree. In addition to weights, he was also going to be doing a lot of cardio and katas. As for Nora, the girl was actually running laps, trying to improve her speed somewhat in addition to some exercises to help improve how quickly she could swing Magnhild around.

And as for both Weiss and Blake, both girls were in the middle of sparring against each other. Weiss was now more focused than ever on trying to achieve the usage of summoning on her own time whilst the spars against Blake were meant for her to spam her semblance with the intent of trying to form and activate her glyphs even faster than before. As for Blake, as she was something of a jack of all trades with no real outstanding fields, she was just sharpening her skills further. They were also helping out Yang get back into the groove of things due to her recent hospital stay.

That left only him here in this particular corner of Beacon's many training rooms. Though far from the only one in here, he'd made sure to pick a spot as free of others as was possible in case things went wrong in some fashion.

"…" He made a sound as he continued to stare at his blade, which he'd already taken the liberty of equipping with some ice Dust, it being the possibly the safer type of Dust that he was able to immediately obtain, courtesy of Weiss.

He recalled vividly how his attempts at using Dust in the distant past had gone and it'd always ended with his attempts literally blowing up in his face.

That was years ago, however. He was much stronger now and his control much better. Hopefully that meant things would be a little different this time around.

He took up a basic attack stance, intending to strike at the open air. "Alright… time to start," he whispered to himself.

Lifting up his blade slowly, he just as slowly swung it and poured some aura into the Dust-.

-And immediately received an explosion of ice to his face. So great was the explosion that it made him stagger back a few feet in surprise in addition to literally coating the entire front of his body in hard ice. Not even the blade itself was spared.

Immediately, he tensed his muscles a bit and the ice pretty much exploded off of him and he turned around to see the other occupants of the training room looking at him in shock and concern.

"Don't mind me," he called out sheepishly. "I'm fine… just let me scoot away a little more."

Marginally embarrassed by his screw up, he moved a little further away and towards one of the walls of the room, though making a point to face away from the wall. Last thing he needed to blow out said wall during his next swing.

And on that note…

He grimaced inwardly. That definitely hadn't gone as intended.

But the question was _why_ did it not go as intended? From the past, he'd deduced that it was perhaps possible to use too much aura and trigger an explosion like that due to the sheer instability it would cause within the Dust… but this time around, he'd tried only pouring as little aura as he could manage and it still went badly.

Well, at least his blade was still in one piece. Again, that blacksmith was incredible, having even managed to make the blade even tougher than it was before. It was thanks to that that his screw up just now hadn't ruined his weapon. But he wasn't about to get complacent and risk its destruction so soon. He had to figure something out and fast.

Looking at his blade, there was still plenty of ice Dust to use, his aura having only triggered a small portion of the Dust to go off. All well and good, but just how long could he make this last, he wondered? Hopefully long enough for him to at least figure out some sort of trick to this.

He raised his blade again, this time only with a single hand and merely with the blade pointing away from him. He had no intention of swinging it just yet, not until he could activate the Dust without incident. Only then would he risk doing so when actively in motion.

Concentrating immensely, he forced just an absolute sliver of aura into the ice Dust-.

-Only for an explosion of frost to occur yet again, coating the blade and the whole area directly around him in ice. With just a flex of his fingers, the ice covering his right hand shattered and a light swing of his blade removed the ice from his sword. A quick stomp saw the rest of the ice upon the floor shattered, though whatever was left would no doubt melt and make the floor slick. Not that it made much difference to him – he was used to fighting in a variety of environments, slick ground included. Besides, it wasn't as if falling on his ass was anything to be upset over, not when it was part of training.

Still… if even a sliver of his aura could trigger such an intense reaction, just what was he to do? There was no denying the sudden activation of the Dust nor its effectiveness, but if he was going to be encasing not just his enemies but also himself in frost every single time, to say nothing of when he'd try using fire, water, lightning, or even gravity Dust, then it would quickly become impractical if he'd have to deal with the fallout of his own attacks in mid-battle. Even the slightest delay on his part could be costly.

"…" Making a sound, Jaune merely raised his blade again. At this point, all he could do was just repeat this over and over again and adjust in accordance to whatever oddities he could feel.

In hindsight, he really should be doing this with help from someone who was an expert on Dust, in this case, Weiss. Alas, she was in the middle of training with Blake so that would have to wait until afterwards.

Until then, he'll just have to attempt this on his lonesome.

Readying his blade again, he prepared to activate the Dust.

And that's exactly what he did – over and over and over and over again.

Another attempt goes by. More needless frost.

Five attempts go by. Just a little less frost now but he's still essentially freezing himself in place.

Ten more attempts go by. He was asked to head to a different training room due to the temperature in this one dropping too low thanks to how intense the frost is. He sheepishly obliged.

In the new training room, another ten attempts go by. He finally ran out of ice Dust for his sword and at the expense of freezing his surroundings yet again, albeit only slightly less. As for himself, he was now only freezing the arm with which he held his sword with along with part of his shoulder, chest and neck, as opposed to his entire front, but this was still unacceptable.

After exiting the room to go refill his blade with ice Dust, he headed back to the training room. This time around, he decided to use just a bit more aura than he had been already. If only a sliver was enough to cause such trouble then maybe it was a matter of using a moderate amount but containing the aura within the Dust itself instead rather than just pouring it into the Dust and letting nature take its course.

The result proved to be… less than desired. And by less than desired, he meant it really only made the effect worse. Normally, containing aura within any given object wasn't an issue but due to Dust's delicate nature, that wasn't the case here. Thus, the end result of this foolishness was the _entire_ training room being effectively turned into a frost covered wonderland. Hell, some stalagmites and stalactites had formed too!

But worst of all, the few others that had been practicing some of their moves in here had also been covered in frost and Jaune had hastily gone around breaking them all free when his fellow students had proven unable to free themselves.

Needless to say, he was quickly kicked out after that. It was only thanks to whatever good will he'd achieved here in Beacon through his helpful actions in the beginning of the school year that had prevented the others from literally kicking him out. Not that he was undeserving of such an action in his own self-depreciative opinion.

Now standing out in the hallway, Jaune could only sheathe his sword and ponder just what the hell he should do next. He was all for the challenge he now faced, but no matter how much he strives to improve, it meant nothing if he couldn't figure out how to proceed from here on out. That he and his friends were all on an unknown deadline didn't help either.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a notification from his scroll. Immediately, he pulled out the device, thinking something had happened. Maybe the Relic of Knowledge had been recovered or something else of substantial note had happened.

Instead, what it the notification turned out to be for was the CCT here on Beacon. Every student's scroll was connected to it and so whenever they were receiving a call from well outside of Vale, the CCT here on campus would automatically send out a message to the student to let them know they've a call waiting.

For security's sake, the notification couldn't just outright tell him who was calling or the exact address, but it did provide which kingdom and the general region of said kingdom it was coming from.

So, as soon as he saw the call was coming from Mistral's northernmost region, he knew exactly who was awaiting him picking up the call.

He broke out into a light jog, all thoughts of training forgotten about for the moment. In record time, he made it from Beacon's training rooms all the way to the CCT whereupon, he swiftly entered and found the closest available terminal.

Upon verifying his student credentials, he stared intensely at the monitor as it processed the information and the call. Though this was only a split-second long process, if that, he couldn't help but feel as if it was taking forever.

But as soon as the information was processed and the call went through, he was greeted in a literal instant with an all too familiar face and voice.

"Hey there, little bro!~" spoke the caller. "Holding up alright?"

Jaune smiled as he replied. "Yeah, Saph… I'm holding up alright."

Nodding on her end of the monitor, his oldest sister Saphron, was practically beaming thanks to his words. "Good, doesn't look like you're trying to lie on that part. If you had been, I would've called up the rest of the family to give you a serious talking to in my place!" Saphron shook a fist and made a clearly fake indignant expression as if to further back up her words.

Jaune let out an uncharacteristic snort. "Come on, when was the last time I've lied, Saph?" he responded, calling her by the little nickname he and the rest of the family had for the eldest daughter of the bunch.

"Well, there was that one time when you were super young where you lied about not wetting your bed…" Saphron began all too cheekily.

Jaune's expression immediately collapsed from mild amusement to embarrassment. "O-Okay, so there's that much-."

"Oh and then there was that time when-," Saphron cheerfully continued, ignoring him, propping an arm up on whatever desktop she was sitting at as she clearly reminisced.

"Saph!" Jaune called out in embarrassment, thankful no one was really around to hear him talk.

Saphron let out a loud giggle bordering on genuine laughter at his reaction. "Ah, so you still can be embarrassed by your big sis… that's good…" At the end, her teasing expression was replaced with one of quiet happiness. "…You know, it really does help a lot to see how you're doing."

At that, Jaune closed his eyes for a brief second and bowed his head. "…Yeah."

In the aftermath of that incident so long ago, when he'd awakened his aura and semblance, his mother and sisters had all taken those events very hard. His mother, a truly amazing person in his objective opinion, had taken the damage done to her vocal chords in surprising grace and had put up a strong front in order to comfort her children. But his sisters back then… due to being so young when that had happened, they hadn't taken things so well.

And Saphron had taken it the worst of all. Though always ready to tease and mess with her siblings at the drop of a hat, there was no denying how much she loved them all and how well she did at helping their mother out in looking after them all. Despite how young she'd been back then, Saphron had pretty much been their substitute mother whenever they, the Arc children, had to be left on their own while their parents tended to other equally important matters.

Thus, Saphron, had always held herself to a very high standard when it came to looking after and providing for them. She'd been their guardian for all intents and purposes, so when she'd been just as helpless during that horrible incident that had resulted in their mother being harmed and him being scarred, she'd taken it very hard.

Her and the rest of the family seeing him succumb to the mental effects of his semblance back then definitely hadn't helped at all. Though she'd long since moved out of the house and now lived in Argus with her wife and son, she still tended to be the most concerned about him and his… progress.

And sure enough, she proved just now how perceptive she is when it came to family by noticing the differences in him just now. This was especially impressive since even back when he'd been under his semblance's heavy influence, he'd still more or less acted the same as he is now just… slightly faked or exaggerated back then.

"Mm. With how long it's been since any of us last talked to you, a lot must have happened, huh?" she then said as she let out a sigh. She now propped up her other arm and practically supported her leaning head with her palms. "…Terra and I have been hearing all about what's been going on in the news…"

At that, Jaune winced. He'd been so caught up in everything, he'd completely neglected the fact his family would eventually hear about all that's happened.

He sighed, suddenly feeling ashamed. "Sorry… I should've called, huh?"

Saphron just shook her head. "We've all been pretty busy with our own lives pretty recently," she replied softly. "Plus, we only just got this news pretty recently, more thanks to Terra's connections at her work than anything in the news. Well, she's gotten more concrete info, I guess would be the better way of putting it. Helps too that some students from Haven have been spilling all the beans about what's been going in Vale and stuff."

At that, Jaune blinked, slightly confused but then remembered that with the Vytal Festival canceled and with Haven's headmaster assassinated, it would make sense for a lot of Haven's students to either return to the dorms back at their academy or even just flat out head back to their homes until things can be restructured. And it wasn't as if Argus was a small place, so there were surely some people there that go to Haven.

"…Do you want me to stop?" he asked after a moment, getting his sister's attention.

She may not have come right out and said it, but having grown up with him under his semblance's influence, she and the rest of their family knew all too well that he wasn't one to sit back when there was something he could possibly do to help, especially if it was something literally happening before his eyes. The recent incidents in Vale certainly counted.

Saphron said nothing for a minute, just looking at him. "…If it were possible, would you have stopped?" In other words, she was basically asking if he even had the _choice_ of stopping in his veritable crusade.

And in response to that, he definitely had an answer. "I could choose to stop, yes… but I won't," he answered firmly. "I'm sorry, Saph. But this is one path I _want_ to take."

Such a response would probably sadden anyone else in Saphron's shoes. And there was no doubt that his sister was dismayed by his words… but what she seemed to be feeling mostly in response to his words was pure relief. "Ah." She was smiling softly now, leaning back in her seat. "You really have come a long way, Jaune." There was no mistaking the pride in her voice either.

He matched her smile with one of his own. "Even 'slaves' like me can still grow," he replied lightly. "And now that I'm considerably more 'free,' I've no intention of letting myself regress. Especially not when I've friends now that'll watch out for me."

Saphron was practically beaming now. "Good," she said in relief before adopting an exaggeratedly stern tone. "But if you do start acting like before, I'll know and by the gods, I'll come over there myself to smack you upside the head until you learn sense again."

Jaune laughed. "What? You'd really leave your dear wifey and son all alone just for that?" he shot back quietly. Then he blinked, comprehending something belatedly. "Just where are Terra and Adrian anyways? Where are you calling me from?"

"Oh, Terra is here at her workstation," Saphron answered. "When the news about Vale started reaching us here, all the Atlas personnel here suddenly had a lot more to do. No idea what though, guess it's confidential. Not even Terra will hint at what's going on no matter how many times I try buttering her up in bed…"

"Uh oh, looks like she's losing interest in you, sis," Jaune now teased. "Knew it was only a matter of time until she got tired of your teasing."

"Hush, little bro, hush. You know not what you speak of," Saphron said in a faux stern and sagely tone. "Anyways, I'm here at her work since this is the only place where the CCT is available for other calls. Would've loved to bring Adrian here with me to say hi to his favorite uncle-."

"-I'm his _only_ uncle-."

"-But the guards here are way too stiff when it comes to security, so I had to leave him with a babysitter for now," Saphron finished explaining, huffing as she did so. "I swear, that Cordovin lady is one mean little bit-."

"Sis, don't be setting a bad example for Adrian," Jaune flatly said.

"Oh come on, he's not even here! Didn't you hear what I said?!" she whined, pout and all. "He's not here to see his dear mommy act like this and most importantly, that Cordovin lady has it coming!"

"Says the same girl who once literally washed out Jasmine's mouth with soap when she cussed at you after you foisted some of _your_ chores on her," Jaune interrupted with a growing smirk, recalling that vivid memory from his pre-semblance youth all too well.

"In my defense, she had it coming for trying to defy the divine mandate I have as the eldest child," Saphron immediately retorted in a haughty fashion.

"…Heh." Jaune couldn't help it. He just had to chuckle.

His chuckling quickly led to his sister laughing along too until they both stopped after a moment or two. Ah, how he's missed this. All those years he'd spent slaving away to his own semblance, fighting and helping out on the frontier… he would never regret doing so, for he's saved many people as a result and weeded out many 'evils' in the process too… but even so, if he'd never awakened his semblance, just how many years could he have had to enjoy such simple interactions with his family like this?

"…Jaune," Saphron began, serious again. "Be honest with me – is something happening?"

Her question was incredibly vague to say the least, but Jaune knew exactly what she meant by it. Even though there wasn't any info that the public could draw upon to form conclusions, his eldest sister has always had a knack for just knowing whenever something bad was brewing. Back then, prior to that incident, her intuition hadn't always been too spot-on, but ever since then, she's gotten much more perceptive about that sort of thing, a result of her always being on the lookout now for any… oddities.

Of course, that being said, anyone would look at the string of incidents that have occurred here in Vale and see what had happened in Mistral recently and start getting a bad feeling about things, but his sister more so.

"…There is," he eventually said. "I can't tell you what it is though… nor can I tell you that things will be alright. But whatever's coming, it'll be happening here first, so you, Terra, and Adrian will be safe… and I'll be doing all I can to make sure that it'll never happen to any of the other kingdoms. My friends and I won't allow it to continue."

As much as he wished to, he couldn't promise that she and their family will be completely safe, but he truly meant it when he said he'll be doing everything possible to make ensure their safety anyways. Though some would call that an empty promise if they knew of the odds against Vale, he fully intended to make it happen anyways.

If there was ever a time to truly say do or die, then this was it. Either he and his friends manage to thwart Salem and her forces or they'll be crushed without mercy.

"Really, really wish you wouldn't put yourself on the line like that…" Saphron muttered before nodding. "…But okay. Jaune, you know how much your… quirks… have worried me and the rest of the family. But we'll always support you. You know that, right?"

"I do. Thanks Saph," Jaune said, unable to fully express the gratitude he was feeling. No family would ever support their kid acting as a line of defense against a force like Salem, not that the public knew of that, but even so, to know his family would nonetheless do so anyways touched him more than he could express through words alone.

Saphron smiled. "Just try not to be reckless, okay?"

"I'm afraid I can't make any promises there, but I'll do my best."

Saphron could only grunt at that but accepted it for what it is. She looked at something off-screen and hummed. "Well, I still have about half an hour before I need to go and start dinner… you have anything you need to do right now?"

Oh so very much, yes. Training, speculating, actual planning, so much more… he did have quite a bit to do. Even though he and his friends were effectively on standby as the headmaster and the others within his inner circle have much to deal with, it wasn't as if they were just going to twiddle their thumbs while they waited for some info to act on.

But even with all that he had to do right this moment-.

"No, I'm good," Jaune said – _lied_ – with a smile.

There was a lot that he _needed_ to do, of that there was no doubt. If this were him from before his second battle with Hazel, he'd be getting to it right now with only a small amount of genuine guilt over cutting his talk with Saphron short.

But as he is now? All he _wants_ is to just enjoy some time with his sister some more.

His response clearly pleased Saphron, whose smile was like a sun in radiance. But then, her signature teasing smile replaced it. "So…" she began, making him regret his decision. "Any girls there catch your eye? Or guys – you know I can't judge you on that."

…

…

…

A half hour comes and goes by in what felt like the blink of an eye, a half hour where Saphron teased him just as she used to before and he gave as good as he got in returning the favor.

By the time his sister had to go, though not before bidding him goodbye in that typical teasing way only a big sister could do to her younger brother, Jaune was feeling much lighter than ever before.

All this stuff concerning Salem and her potential plans… in hindsight now, he could see he'd been at risk of regressing somewhat, of being far too focused on one matter that he almost begins to forget about everything else. That he's neglected to contact his family after all this time was a sign of this.

This was something he aimed to now correct. Alas, given what time it is here, his family would be out and about, his father no doubt out in the field while his mother worked within their hometown and his sisters were no doubt in the middle of their own schooling or jobs. Thus, a call to them, where he could speak with them all at once, would have to wait until later in the afternoon.

That was one thing he vowed here and now to do, no matter what.

But until then, he had the rest of the day to himself, with it only barely being close to noon now.

Exiting the CCT, he intended to head back to the training rooms and see if he could get in some more practice on his Dust usage before meeting his friends for lunch.

Alas, some odd minutes later, he discovered that all the training rooms were currently being used to their max capacity. Plus, some of the students there who'd been there earlier when he was around were quick to shoo him away, no doubt worried he'll cover the whole room in frost again. Fair enough.

With that option out, he could only head back outside and eventually found a nice little spot that was close to the unofficial borderline between Beacon's grounds and the forest where initiation is held.

Overlooking said forest, he couldn't help but marvel at how quickly time has gone by. In hindsight, it felt only like a week or so ago when he'd barely been taking initiation. How the time flies, he thought with a small smile.

But he wasn't about to spend the rest of the day just mulling over memories, though that did kind of sound fun to do. No, he still had his own training to do.

Slowly, he unsheathed his sword and readied it within his right hand. However, rather than swing the blade or attempt to use the Dust in it, he just held it before his very eyes and stared for what had to be the thousandth time by now.

Really, just what was he to do about this? If pouring even the slightest amount of aura into the Dust or even trying to contain that sliver of aura within it would result in failure, then would that not render his intended usage of Dust impractical if he could never use it to its fullest extent?

"Man," he murmured to himself. "Why can't Dust hold aura as easily as my swords do?" For once, he couldn't help but almost complain about the oddities he encountered in life. That this was the one thing to draw such a reaction out of him as opposed to literally everything else was honestly pretty funny in a way.

…

…Wait.

Jaune's eyes went wide as an idea suddenly hit him out of the blue, born in response to his words just now.

If trying to pour aura directly into the Dust was seemingly hopeless, then what about a more indirect method?

His swords… his swords have always been able to handle the aura he pumped into them. Sure, he may push them to their limits at times, but not to the point where they exploded in the same way the Dust did.

Concentrating, he channeled some aura into his sword, making sure to compress it within his weapon as deeply as he could. The last thing he wanted right now was for the Dust to react too soon.

He held his breath ever so slightly as he waited for something to happen and when nothing did, he exhaled in relief. But he wasn't about to let his concentration slip. Instead, he concentrated even harder, allowing the aura compressed within the very core of his sword to slowly spread through the blade itself.

As it did so, he took up a basic attack stance and overlooked the cliff that he was near, looking for the nearest tree or general object that he could afford to test this out on.

Spotting an exceptionally large number of trees whose thick branches made them look as if they were all bunched together, he swung his blade as slowly as he could afford to, just barely breaking the sound barrier. As he did so, the aura within his blade finally reached the Dust and 'pushed' against it for all but a split second, if that.

The result was immediate. The Dust responded to the sudden and instant long aura push and a visible wave of frost was unleashed. Jaune then watched as the top of the trees were nearly blown off, the blown off bits and the rest of the trees' upper selves coated in a light layer of frost.

Jaune smirked with satisfaction.

The cut may not have been cleanly through, the now ruined trees looking more as if someone had taken a chainsaw to them rather than a swing of a sharp blade, but compared to the extremely explosive and uncontrollable bursts from earlier, this was already one hell of an improvement.

Yes, Jaune decided, this was much more like what he'd envisioned doing with the Dust. And once mastered, it should certainly give him a desperately needed edge in the battles to come.

Reinvigorated, Jaune began his training anew.

* * *

 **So, firstly, just want to say that regarding Watts, he's effectively like Amenokurato from Silverio Trinity: Beyond the Horizon. Basically, he's able to create a virtual space in which he can freely alter or even generate any sort of phenomena he can think of, which is accomplished via computation. However, there are two main differences between Watts and Amenokurato, the first one being that the latter can only create this virtual space within the singularity whereas Watts can freely create this virtual space via his aura. The other main difference between them is that the latter is far more powerful than Watts will ever be though Watts himself is certainly no slouch in the power department now. As I'm sure you guys realize, Watts is honestly pretty OP now. But don't worry, there will be limits to his new power that will be revealed as time goes on.**

 **Now, Saphron. Honestly, I meant to include at least one or two members of the Arc family in this fic at some point, but until now it never truly felt right to shoehorn them given everything that'd been going on. And considering how big a deal Jaune's 'condition' is to them, it would've probably been odd if I went the whole fic without at least giving the Arc family one scene with which to address their concerns about him. Hope that makes sense and that the scene between them was enjoyable.**

 **As for Jaune, allow me to expand on some stuff. Regarding his modified sword(s), basically what happened is that a compartment for Dust was made to replace the sharp end of the blade itself, this compartment made out of heavily reinforced plastic that was sharpened to the point where it substitutes for the sword's original sharpness and can be further enhanced via aura. There's a small slot Jaune can open up on the bottom of the swords' hilts where he can insert the Dust through. These compartments look so natural that if one isn't paying attention, it just looks as if he coated the edge of his swords with Dust rather than suspect the truth. Hope that makes sense.**

 **As for Salem's scene, I just want to say that I hope it was a fun one. And if it seems as if she's being just a bit too arrogant or dismissive, do remember that she has a hell of a lot going for her now – Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, the Grimm, now the Relic of Knowledge… compared to Ozpin and his group, she hasn't exactly suffered too many notable losses throughout the backstory and current events of this fic.**

 **And to any of you concerned I'm hyping up Jaune as being too amazing, rest assured, there is a point to this, namely that I'm expressing more how 'abnormal' he is rather than how 'amazing' he is. Again, there's a reason for this, but it won't be explained any time soon, I'm afraid. Spoilers and all, heh.**

 **Take care, everyone. Stay safe.**


	45. Chapter 45

Hey there, everyone, hope you've all been well. So, apparently, the economy is going to be fully reopening over the next few weeks or so, yeah? If that does happen, how do you guys feel about it? On the one hand, my job in and of itself isn't anything to be super excited about doing, but it was still something to do and get for. But I primarily miss my coworkers who are all really cool, so it would be nice to see them again and talk. Personally, though, would like to maybe hold off on all this until the start of August as an extra precaution, but of course, that's not a decision we the people can make. Just thought I should give my two cents on the matter though.

Whelp, that aside, had a surprisingly hard time writing this chapter – primarily the beginning since for the longest time nothing was coming to mind on how to actually start it. I usually have a brief mental outline well in advance of what to write, but this time around, I just totally blanked. So please forgive me if the chapter feels a little rough. I did my best to edit it after writing it to make sure it flowed normally, but I may have missed a spot or two.

On an aside, almost done with my novel! Just need another two chapters and then I just need to come up with some cover page and it'll just be a matter of uploading it for purchase… though writing a summary to entice potential buyers will be a pain to do… always sucked at those. Hopefully whenever I get around to writing the third/final novel of my planned trilogy, I can improve on that front.

Now, without anymore time being wasted, onto the chapter.

P.S. there will be a very small timeskip between the first section of this chapter and the second section. Just wanted to let you guys know now to avoid any possible confusion.

Chapter 45

Hazel stands in place, unmindful of the Grimm that practically surrounded him. Honestly, over the past week, he's grown somewhat desensitized to having them around him almost constantly now. The faint traces of negativity that he could feel even from here hadn't exactly helped him either and now the man, all but literally invincible in a physical sense, was feeling terribly worn down.

He'd long since stopped holding humanity in a positive light, especially after his sister died thanks to Ozpin's wretched foolishness, but the exposure to humanity's negativity, however slight, hadn't been doing him any favors at all. Sometimes, it was a wonder he could even bring himself to be semi-comfortable in Watts' presence.

Speaking of the man…

Watts' loud chuckle made the man tiredly look his way in time to see the former Atlas scientist expand that virtual space of his roughly ten meters all around. The mustachioed man was practically in a constant state of bliss as he ceased to maintain his virtual space.

Hazel could only shake his head. He would easily admit that the power Watts had gained from his Eternal Motor was truly in a league all its own, but the taciturn man had also been all too quick to notice the 'weaknesses' that Watts' new power has to it.

Weaknesses that he made sure to inform Watts of and his ally did seem to take his words to heart, but it was as clear as day that the man was in constant danger of letting the power go to his head.

Ironic since Hazel felt the opposite about his own abnormal state, the changes resulting from his Dust usage still going on. Though outwardly, he looked the same as always, Hazel could feel it – a shift in the very structure of his soul. As poetic as that might sound, it was quite literal in this case and far from hyperbole. Hazel feared what exactly he was still in the process of becoming.

"…" Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a few Dust crystals and looked at them in an all new and wary light.

For the sake of his goals – killing Jaune Arc and avenging his sister's death by putting down Ozpin – he was more than willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish them. If that meant having to infuse himself with more Dust, then he would do so… but if – when – it did come to that, just what would happen? With the changes he was already undergoing, would his Dust injections speed up the changes, make them more drastic? Result in entirely new and different changes altogether? Do nothing at all?

With him already able to sense negativity and manipulate the elements a little, would further Dust usage increase these new traits of his? Would it warp his mind and soul further? If so, would he even be able to finally take solace in Gretchen's death being avenged at the end of all this?

…If injecting more Dust resulted in him fully losing the memories of his sister or otherwise rendering him incapable of feeling anything for her anymore then just wh-?

"Ah, Tyrian," Watts spoke up with a satisfied smirk. "Are you ready?"

Roused from his thoughts, Hazel looked to the third and final member of their little bunch.

Just yesterday, Tyrian had finally linked up with them, having successfully delivered the Relic of Knowledge to Salem and resting up for a full day or so before making his way here. The scorpion Faunus had taken his time getting to them and on Salem's order at that too – the Grimms' immortal leader had made it all too clear to Tyrian for him to avoid overstraining himself lest he be too worn down by the time of the final stage of the plan to be of much use.

Thus, when the serial killer had met up with them yesterday, he'd immediately taken to resting… and now, here he was, finally up and in peak condition after having himself some rations for breakfast.

Tyrian looked at Watts in mad glee. "Ah, as ready as I could ever hope to be," he replied before cackling in delight, no doubt vividly imagining what would be coming.

Watts' own smirk grew and now the man faced him. "What of you, Hazel?"

"Likewise," he managed to utter without giving anything away. He then looked to Tyrian. "Make sure to wait until Watts gives the signal. After that, however… do as you please."

The final stage of the plan was almost painfully simple: Hazel would order all the Grimm he could command to renew their assault on Vale's southern wall, not with the intention of bringing it down – that would come much later – but with the intent of keeping the forces stationed there occupied and thus distracted. Once that is done, Watts will use his technopathy to disable some comms and other delicate and hackable tech to further cause some chaos along the walls. This would no doubt result in some casualties for Vale's forces, but as this week of rest and training had shown Watts due to fiddling with whatever tech he had on hand, it turns out he could only really control any one piece of tech for up to half an hour before his concentration slips and he loses control. Thus, throwing the entire southern section of Vale would be impossible…

…However, it would give Tyrian more than enough of an opportunity to make it inside Vale and once inside and clear of the walls… well, it went without saying what exactly the crazed Faunus will do.

But to sum it up succinctly, Tyrian will do what he does best. And he won't simply stick to one sector either, no, he'll make his way throughout every possible part of Vale he could get through and build himself his usual mountain of corpses. In doing so, he'll show the occupants of Vale that there truly is no place safe for them.

Watts would follow not long after Tyrian's spree begins so that he may then use his newfound power to further sow discord, but his primary objective would be to throw the Atlas fleet and Vale's comms into disarray.

Negativity will then surge greater than ever before and Grimm will flock of their own accord even more here. Once enough Grimm gather to form an actual horde, that'll be when he will infiltrate Vale once more and the three of them will raise hell to prevent Ozpin and his allies from mounting a proper defensive against the horde…

…And once that happens…

Hazel grimaced in silence, knowing that would be when Salem will make her own move, after he and the others had properly prepared for her arrival in Vale. A part of him almost – _almost_ – felt bad for the people of that blasted kingdom… but this sensation lasted for all of a split second before it wilted and died.

It was far too late for him to even entertain the notion of pity for humanity. This was a long time coming… he, Watts, and Tyrian were merely speeding things up a bit at this point.

"Oh, I most certainly will…" Tyrian replied, his tail uncoiling itself from around his waist and its stinger raised itself as if ready to strike. The bloodthirsty lunatic was already envisioning his victims, it would seem.

Hazel grunted in response. Looks like there was nothing else to be said then.

Stalking forth, he marched through the forest and towards Vale ever so slightly. Then without the slightest bit of fanfare, he gave the Grimm the command-.

-And the small tide of black and white beasts surged forth towards their target.

* * *

James was aboard the main deck of his flagship, staring out towards the great beyond. Though only slightly, he could make out a small flock of large Nevermores troubling Vale's southern wall, where the forces there were making quick work out of the avian Grimm. It helped especially that he'd sent some of his forces to the walls to further augment Vale's own forces.

It's now been roughly nine days since Ozpin had deemed it fit to bring teams RWBY and JNPR into the fold… the Atlas general still wasn't too sure what to feel about that. On the one hand, it went against his ethics to include people so young and fresh into this shadow war against Salem but on the other hand, he and the rest of Ozpin's inner circle were really hurting for options here. It did help that both teams were quite talented, but that was really only relative to the rest of the first-year students at Beacon and the other academies.

During this time, from what he's heard, both teams have taken to training themselves harder than they ever have before, all for the sake of being able to do their part in the battle against Salem, which made James proud, but now in light of this sudden albeit small surge of Grimm attacking from the south, he worried if they would be able to get noticeable enough results in just these past nine days to be of more immediate use.

On that note…

"James," Ozpin called out as he was escorted up to him.

The general turned to greet his friend briskly. Earlier, he'd called Ozpin and asked him to meet aboard his flagship. It'd taken his fellow headmaster a bit longer than he would've liked to come up here, but that was just how things went considering Ozpin no doubt had to coordinate things on Vale's side of things from the shadows, which is far from easy to do.

Motioning for Ozpin to follow him, the general quickly strolled to the far end of the main deck where no one couldn't overhear them unless they got close… and that is something he and Ozpin would immediately notice.

"This is her doing," James immediately said in a quiet voice, motioning towards the south of Vale.

Ozpin, ever so quick to get to the point too despite his love of tangents, nodded firmly. "Without a doubt. Have your technicians made any headway on…?"

Ozpin was referring to what had happened yesterday.

When the new surge of Grimm had suddenly hit, a lot of the equipment by the walls had suddenly started to go on the fritz, automated turrets refusing to turn or aiming at some spot far off in the distance rather than the Grimm closest to the wall. Soldiers' equipment had acted up, ranging from their guns' auto-safety features that prevented them from actually firing to their headsets going offline and preventing them from radioing in with others.

More than a few people had died as a result of this incident and it was the main reason why he'd sent out some of his own forces to back them up, effective immediately. He'd also sent out an entire team of technicians and analysts to ensure every piece of technology there was up and running properly, doing checks for faulty parts and malware. In the several hours that have passed since then, he's heard nothing from them, which was a good thing, since if they had contacted him, then that'd mean they did find signs of tampering.

That said, he wasn't taking things lightly – that's why he had his flagship and one other ship personally monitoring from afar the southern part of Vale's current state. He had bullheads full of soldiers on standby in case something else went horribly wrong.

James made sure to tell Ozpin all this and he watched as his friend swiftly digested all this information. "…Damn it all," Ozpin actually swore ever so lightly, much to James' surprise. It was a sure sign of how tired Ozpin was from all this. "This is clearly her doing, meant to distract us… if only we knew how this was being done, then a proper countermeasure could be made."

At that, the general could only grimace in agreement. Though he was hopeful that no news was good news, the lack of signs indicating tampering was eating away at him. Obviously, their tech had been sabotaged somehow, but the complete lack of evidence as to how it was being done was enough to drive him up the walls. Combined with the steadily growing number of Grimm attacking Vale's southern wall, he was reaching his wits' end at a steady pace.

"Have you heard anything on your end of things, Oz?" James asked, knowing for a fact that his friend had been busy monitoring things on a more grounded level as opposed to him. Due to how busy they'd been tending to their respective problems this week, it'd been a while since they'd been able to update one another properly.

At his question, Ozpin looked him dead in the eyes and that alone was enough to make James regret asking.

"Some matters have made themselves known to me in just these past twelve hours…" Ozpin began before launching into an explanation. "This surge in Grimm… it goes without saying that it's unnatural, caused by either Salem herself or Hazel, who's apparently been demonstrating traits similar to her, remember? With this in mind though, the surge we're seeing here isn't anything truly worth fretting over in and of itself… rather, what I fear is what will result from this intentional surge of Grimm."

"A Grimm horde forming," James murmured uneasily.

With how many incidents have happened within Vale these past several weeks and months, negativity was as high as it could be without there being a full-blown siege by the Grimm. However, that could change very quickly now with how unsettled the public is.

But even though he and the others were doing the best they can to keep the people at relative ease, the negativity was still very much there. The entire kingdom of Vale was like a pressure cooker at this point and it was on the verge of exploding from excessive pressure… but even without that happening, a Grimm horde would very likely be forming by now out there in the wildlands.

And if they did nothing at all about it…

"…I take it, you've already tried sending some huntsmen out to see if a horde was already forming?" James asked.

"I have," Ozpin answered. "And I made it very clear for them to stop for nothing, not even rest until they reached where a horde would most likely form… and so far, they've yet to respond back."

Chills raced up and down James' spine wildly.

Grimm hordes tended to gather in vast and open areas, where the environment's natural layout couldn't obstruct the Grimm from packing as closely together as possible. Avian type Grimm were somewhat exempt from this due to their ability to fly but even then they tended to try finding spots to land for a time until the horde was large enough to warrant moving out.

It was also worth noting that avian type Grimm always head out first towards their targets, again due to them being able to fly over most obstructions. And while all Grimm barring the much older ones tend to be reckless to the point of suicidal, the avian ones were even more so whenever they were part of a Grimm horde…

…Much like the Nevermores the forces along Vale's southern wall…

"Shit…!" James growled out.

A horde had likely already been forming for a while now. This recent surge in Grimm was just Salem's way of quickening its pace and bolstering its numbers further.

And the fact that none of the huntsmen Ozpin had sent out had reported in yet… that was another terrifying sign of things. With the topography in mind here, the locations where a Grimm horde could reasonably form near Vale weren't many in number nor did it take too long to reach them, especially if huntsmen pushed themselves to the limit.

And at the very first sign of a horde forming, those same huntsmen would immediately report it in and either fall back to Vale or try thinning the numbers out via guerilla tactics until proper reinforcements can be sent to deal with the horde before it grows out of control.

"James," Ozpin began. "It goes without saying that some _one_ has been picking them off – most likely Hazel if not another of Salem's agents. That said, this is not something we can back away from to assess any longer."

James could only nod, understanding what his friend was about to say. "I'll send out some ships, have them blast the horde to dust from as high up as they can get away with." He paused for a moment as he then thought of something. "I can only hope that doing this isn't just playing into their hands further, though…"

This could very well be a trap. Hell, it most likely was – he sends in some ships and they get shot down somehow, depriving himself but most importantly Vale of that much manpower and resources. From a purely pragmatic perspective, that is what he'd do in the enemy's shoes, but at the same time… this horde couldn't go ignored.

It was simply a risk that couldn't be taken, not when this horde had the benefit of Salem's agents stewing their own brand of chaos amidst all this.

"…And," Ozpin continued wearily. "On another note… I believe it's time we finally put RWBY and JNPR out into the field against Salem's forces."

James' attention, which had waned slightly as he focused heavily on what to do next, snapped back to his old friend instantly. "What do you mean?"

Ozpin looked at him yet again in that all too intense way that spoke of how serious this was. "You've been busy up here so you haven't heard yet," he began. "As of yesterday, before dawn, there's been something of a murder spree going on – a house near the southern wall broken into and the couple there slain… followed not long afterwards by a slew of deaths among the homeless population. The trail of bodies, discovered only due to the police's much more extensive patrols, seem to indicate this killer is covering quite the distance between each kill… and rapidly at that too."

James' heart felt like it was beating a million miles a minute. From the sounds of it, it seems like the public was still in the dark on that, but if or when it did become more obvious to them all…

"Do you think they'll be able to handle it?" the general immediately asked. His first impulse upon asking this question was to then follow it up with the demand he send at least an additional two squads along with the two teams in order to find this killer and deal with them as swiftly as humanly possible, but he had to stomp down on that impulse hard. Even if he did do so and he got his soldiers to dress in plain clothes, it would still end up drawing too much attention.

"They must," Ozpin replied. "I've already assigned most of my staff and others students to helping out along Vale's walls as needed, to say nothing of aiding the police with the usual crimes, so it sadly isn't as if we've much choice really… honestly, it's just a matter of deciding if they will be enough on their own."

Again, James wanted like all hell to send some men to back up both RWBY and JNPR in this endeavor, but he had to hold back on that. He's learned that acting too rashly was just as bad a move as any, really.

"…You've spoken to me of their potential," James managed to say evenly. "So let's see if they can deal with this. But at the very least… let me send along just one person to back them up. Whoever this killer is, they're clearly doing this on Salem's orders to stew more chaos… and I highly doubt she'd have chosen someone that could be easily beaten by first-year trainees to carry this out."

"Then call your person, James," Ozpin immediately responded in a firm tone. "I'll gather the teams and have them sent into Vale right now. I'll let them know to meet your soldier near Vale's bullhead transport deck."

That was all the man had to say before immediately taking his leave, just barely even bothering to acknowledge the general's nod. Not that James minded this, really. After all, this was indeed an urgent matter.

As Ozpin took his leave, the man's scroll already in hand, James approached the nearest operator of his flagship.

"Get specialist Schnee on the line," he commanded. "Tell her there's a new assignment for her… and that she's to take care of it _immediately_."

* * *

As soon as the headmaster had called him and his friends to meet near Beacon's bullhead docks, Jaune knew that this was it – the official start of their own efforts against Salem and her forces. Well, official in the sense that their actions were being supported by the headmaster and others.

Needless to say, he was feeling quite riveted, but at the same time, his elation at being able to do some good was tempered by wariness. And sure enough, after they'd all been briefly informed of the situation and sent posthaste into Vale, Jaune was more certain than ever that they had to be on their toes.

Disembarking from the bullhead upon arriving at a docking center further into Vale, Jaune and his friends were quick to take note of someone approaching them – and someone familiar at that too, if only to a few of his friends.

"Winter?!" Weiss called out in surprise nearby as a woman, looking very much like an older and sterner version of her, strode right up to them.

"Weiss," the woman – Winter – replied in a professional tone but there was no doubting the slightest bit of warmth there too, indicating how much she cared for her younger sister. "As nice as it is to see you again, I'm afraid we don't have any time to waste. You've all been briefed?"

"We have," Ruby spoke up, the chipper girl deadly serious now. "You're here to help us out and stuff, right?"

Winter nodded. "That's right. Alas, as we will need to split up to search, I won't be accompanying your team, Ms. Rose."

Jaune quirked an eyebrow. "Then you'll be with us?" he asked if only for spoken confirmation.

Winter nodded. "That's right. Now let's not waste another second more. Here – earpieces. We'll be staying in touch through them since trying to pull out and use your scroll in the middle of a potential conflict would be tough to do." She quickly passed them out and continued speaking as they all put the earpieces on. "General Ironwood had already informed me of the areas this perp of ours has targeted… seems like whoever it is is moving throughout the surroundings areas in a zig-zag type pattern. As there's no guarantee this will continue, both teams here will split up to cover as much ground as possible. Now let's go."

Ruby and Yang, mainly the former, did their best to avoid spluttering in surprise due to how fast things seemed to be progressing, but settled down an instant later and just nodded resolutely. The headmaster had told them of the stakes here and thus time was a very precious commodity right now.

There was no time to do things slowly anymore, no time to spend strategizing before enacting a plan. They had to go out there now and get this done. The overall situation was just too strained as it is.

Thus, without any other comments to be made, both RWBY and JNPR were off, jogging lightly alongside Winter Schnee as to avoid causing the citizens out and about right now too much worry. Thanks to everything going on recently, the citizens have slowly gotten used to seeing police and huntsmen going about much more frequently nowadays, sights they'd been put somewhat at ease by, but seeing them act too urgently could potentially invert that marginal sense of security around very quickly.

Truly, what a delicate balance this was.

Alas, this was something they couldn't afford to pay much mind to, Jaune sadly realized.

But that aside… were he and his friends ready? That was the main question on his mind right now. It's been roughly nine days since they all tripled their efforts to get better in their own ways. In some cases, such as his own, results were quite noticeable, but in most of their cases such as Ren's, results were heavily lacking. Which is perfectly natural, of course; after all, it's not possible to significantly improve one's own strength and endurance in just a bit more than week. Well, except for him of course, but he was an exception not the norm. As for improving one's combat skill and technique, that was a much more difficult to assess variable. The only way to know would only be through combat.

And combat would no doubt be coming all too seen…

At some point, they split up. RWBY went to do an all-encompassing sweep of Vale's southeastern districts while Jaune, his team, and Winter covered the southwestern districts.

"Anything in particular we need to be aware of?" he asked Winter as they arrived.

This was technically a question that had already been asked earlier before both teams went their separate ways, but this time Jaune asked in reference to the area itself.

"Nothing in particular," Winter immediately replied, picking up on his meaning. "Before the more recent incidents, this entire area used to be made up of small motels that tourists used, at least those who made the travel to Vale from the south and wished to avoid the car and foot traffic that naturally can be found deeper into Vale's more metropolitan areas. However, many motels have closed down due to the recent surge in Grimm presence… and the killings haven't been helping either."

"But aren't the killings being kept under wraps for now? How would people know about that then?" Pyrrha asked, his partner frowning as she spoke. Although the reason for keeping the killing spree out of the news was understandable, it just wasn't something that sat well with her for obvious moral reasons.

"Word gets around quickly in areas like this," Jaune answered in Winter's stead, earning a quirked eyebrow from the woman. For what reason did she seem surprised, he knew not, but he continued speaking. "There will always be those areas in every kingdom or large enough town where people are especially close-knit, to the point where even if technology is lacking and thus making long distance communication harder, word of mouth is still enough to make up for the difference a bit. Even if people don't know what exactly is going on, all it takes is just for someone trustworthy to have a bad feeling about things and pass that feeling along to others… the attack on city hall definitely didn't help put people at ease either."

Pyrrha grimaced but nodded. Her hands itched ever so lightly towards her undrawn weapons, but she was doing well to keep this urge in check. The same could be said too of a tense looking Nora and Ren.

Jaune himself was no different, really.

This was something Winter seemed to take note of as she walked next to him. "…Are you able to use all those swords?" she asked, looking at the rather ridiculous sight he must pose.

For just a few days ago, the very swords he'd asked of the headmaster had been delivered to him, sheathes and all, including the unmodified blade he'd given to the headmaster that one day too. Needless to say, he'd had to go out and buy some additional straps for his waist so that he could properly equip all seven modified swords, and while he was able to ensure he wasn't risking a blade unnecessarily jutting out, even he had to admit he must look ridiculous, what with seven swords literally strapped to his waist, just over his own butt.

Even so, Jaune answered confidently. "I am, yes." To prove his point, he reached for the most difficult to reach blades with zero strain and virtually no unnecessary movements, drawing them out with nary a sound before sheathing them again just a second later. "…Just how high are the odds, however, that I will need to prove my prowess today?"

He didn't say that to imply he was craving a fight or not taking this seriously for that just wasn't true at all, but rather this was his own little way of trying to assure the Atlas specialist that he was ready for whatever would come next.

"Hard to say," she replied as she kept on walking, now picking up her pace as she headed. Though she didn't turn her head much at all, Jaune could clearly tell all of the woman's senses were on high alert. At the very first sign of something amiss, she'd respond in an instant. "From what can be determined, our serial killer will likely be hitting this particular area next… but calling their travel path a 'zig-zag' may have been too generous of me – whoever this person is, they could just as easily head to where team RWBY will be searching or perhaps even find a way to bypass us all entirely."

Jaune and his friends could only nod and make quiet sounds of acknowledgement. That made sense, though it didn't put them at ease. Further adding to their worry, the places this person had targeted were all over the place – some crime scenes had been within small houses or shops or even inside motels like the ones in this area. Homeless people have been killed in alleyways, during nighttime or even daytime, indicating that this killer was either bold or flat out reckless. Of course, given that this person had gone uncaught and unidentified so far, that said something about their skill and strength.

And considering this very likely had something to do with Salem…

Jaune inwardly bristled. He very highly doubted it was Hazel behind these killings. Behind this sudden surge in Grimm, sure, but not the killings themselves. That said, if whoever was committing them was even remotely close to Hazel's level…

It took Jaune a split second to realize his hands were unconsciously going for two of his seven blades and he lowered them hastily. There were still some people about. The last thing he needed was to accidentally startle them with any rash actions. To do so risked a spike in negativity that would inevitably draw even more Grimm to Vale's walls or even worse, somehow cause the killer to get hastier, assuming they were nearby.

"Weiss, report," Winter suddenly said as she tapped the earpiece. "Anything so far?"

Thanks to their own earpieces, Jaune and his friends were able to continue walking and looking around unimpeded as Weiss' voice came in crystal clear. "Nothing yet, no. We've decided to start searching at the last known crime scene and try to track our… runner… from there, but so far, no noticeable signs."

The area RWBY was searching in was on the nicer side of Vale, so anything out of the ordinary would stick out like splotches of black paint on a pure white canvas. And from what the headmaster and Winter herself earlier had told them, the crime scenes had been quite… messy. To avoid leaving any tracks further spoke as to this killer's experience.

"Copy," Winter said. "Don't bother looking for any tracks in that case – I doubt you'll find any. Just plot out the possible paths the runner may have gone and start from there. We've no time to stand back and deliberate in length."

"Right… Winter… be careful, okay?" Weiss replied, those last four words being spoken in a much softer tone.

Winter said nothing out loud but her expression told Jaune plenty. She really was a sterner version of Weiss, but just as good a person underneath that seemingly icy exterior. Jaune could really quite admire that in a sense.

"Has…" Ren suddenly began as they continued their trek now through some nearby alleyways, no one else around to potentially overhear them. "Has the general informed you of what's really going on?"

That got Winter to pause momentarily. "…Yes," she answered quietly. "From what I understand, he's yet to tell Ozpin that I'm in the know now, but I can't be sure of that. It has been a busy week."

"I see… just thought I should ask," Ren replied, somewhat apologetically. "Given how badly things have gone for us due to being in the dark on all this, I thought it best to make sure we're all on the same page here… that said, you seem to be taking all this quite well."

Winter actually snorted. "Like I just said, it's been a busy week. I haven't had much time to process all this so far… but in a way, I feel like I've always known there was more to everything than just Grimm being what they are…"

It was now Jaune's turn to speak. "I'm guessing you've met a Maiden…" he commented very quietly.

"I have," she said. "Not that I knew it at the time but given how much importance the general placed on her being taken care of, it would make sense in hindsight why that is." She turned ever so slightly towards them. "That said, if you think this is all some ploy to get towards the Maiden here in Vale, I rather doubt it. From what the general has told me, it would seem the enemy has found a way to get around the need for the four women in the first place."

"I feel the same. This is all likely a way to stir up enough chaos to cause a horde to form," Jaune replied grimly, more grimly than he's ever spoken before.

His words had an impact on his friends too, who now drew their weapons openly due to no civilians no longer being around to potentially scare.

Their classes with both professor Port and doctor Oobleck have made it all too clear how big of a deal a Grimm horde is. And with just how much negativity Vale has been outputting recently, a horde must surely be forming somewhere out there.

Winter drew her own weapon now, an immaculate looking sword. "Yes… which is why we can't take afford to waste any more time now. No matter how skilled our killer is, there's only so many ways they could travel from one area to another. The rooftops, the alleyways, the sewers… these seem to be the most likely ways the killer could be traveling. While audaciously taking the streets isn't entirely unfathomable, it's nowhere near as possible or efficient."

Jaune nodded, coming to that same conclusion. That left only one thing to do – for them to split up and search. As tremendously risky as this move was, it was sadly the only thing they could do and they can expect to do so on their own too, no support whatsoever; with the police focused on dealing with the fluctuating crime rate and numerous trainees assisting in this task while huntsmen, most of the Atlas fleet, and the more experienced trainees dealt with border security and Grimm suppression, they were more or less on their own. Backup wasn't out of the question entirely, but if something happened, it probably wouldn't reach them quickly enough to matter much.

But as was constantly being stressed just now, they had to get this done as soon as possible.

Turning to face his team, Jaune was quick to issue some orders. "Pyrrha, take the rooftops. With your overall ability and semblance, you'll be able to spot anything out of the ordinary and either snipe our target or use your polarity to grab their attention and keep them occupied. Nora, go with Pyrrha as support. Just make sure not to get any civilians caught up in the crossfire if you do start shooting your grenades." Both girls nodded firmly and he looked to Ren. "Ren, stick with specialist Schnee here and take the alleyways and street. If anything does happen, you'll have plenty of room to maneuver since your weapons are perfect for enclosed spaces like these."

Ren nodded. "What about you?"

"I'll take the sewers," Jaune replied. "Though not to the same degree as a Faunus, my night vision is pretty good – the result of many travels through the night on the frontier."

At that, his friends looked to him in concern.

"But won't using your blades be difficult to do in that situation?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah. I know you're our fearless leader and all, but isn't there a chance your earpiece thingie will not work down there?" Nora added.

He opened his mouth to reply, only for Winter to cut him off before he could even utter a syllable. "So long as he doesn't go too far down into the sewer system, his comms should work just fine. That now said…" she looked at him critically. "I'd rather you just do a quick sweep of the areas near the sewer entrance – just because we must take risks here doesn't mean we should push things that far. This will all be useless if we negatively impact our efficiency that much."

"I understand," Jaune replied evenly.

"…Will you really be okay?" Pyrrha asked. She was worried still, not because she doubted his strength, but just because she was just that wonderful a person. Also… "I mean, even if you do have room to properly fight down there… I mean, if you use Dust…"

At that, Jaune looked just a bit sheepish. Though his control over Dust has improved immensely thanks to the revelation he'd had nine days ago – plus some tips after that from Weiss – that didn't change the fact that the effects of said Dust usage were… significant. There was a very real possibility he could cut through the sewer all the way up to the surface and cause a collapse if he wasn't careful.

"I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll try to stick to just unarmed combat though just to play it extra safe," he answered.

This very brief exchange got Winter to quirk an eyebrow, mildly confused by the implications here, but she didn't bother commenting. "Then we're decided – let's move."

Replying in the affirmative, Pyrrha and Nora quickly hopped onto a nearby wall and kicked off it, traveling upwards until they reached the roof of the building next to them. As for Jaune himself, he headed for the nearest big sewer entrance, which lied further down these alleyways.

As he quickly dashed over to it, he looked back to see Winter and Ren depart for somewhere deeper into the alleyways.

The search was now truly on for their killer… now it was just a matter of time until they either found the killer…

…Or the killer found them first.

* * *

Tyrian stalked his way through the sewer system with a massive smile on his face. He has been smiling ever literally since he'd begun his spree. Not even the repugnant odor that permeated the sewer could get to him. And why should it anyways? After all, the trash found down here was exactly the same as the trash up above, those that he's killed and will kill.

In any case, he felt he was making good progress. So far, he's killed a few dozen people as it is – some families, business workers, and mainly the homeless, his prowess as a killer having allowed him to pick them all off at his leisure without even a bit of genuine resistance. Ah, how he'd love to have taken his time with some of them, but he was sadly on a bit of a time crunch here.

As per the plan, it was up to him to start the final stage of it off with a lovely little bang thus his usual MO wasn't viable. But this was not a problem at all, for it was all for his goddess.

He moaned ever so quietly in sheer bliss, already anticipating how he'd be praised by the goddess for his efforts. That he'd already been thanked simply for bringing her the Relic of Knowledge had filled him with immense joy.

Invigorated more than ever before by such thoughts, Tyrian picked up his pace, effortlessly traversing through the pitch blackness found within the sewers, the night vision granted to him by his Faunus heritage serving him well in moving about.

Reaching a ladder that would take him up to street level, he was quick to mount it and climb, only slowing when he reached the manhole and gently lifted it so that he wouldn't draw any undue suspicion just yet.

Peeking his head out slightly, the scorpion Faunus saw he was in the clear… and just near some shops.

He chuckled darkly. Most excellent.

Waiting a moment for any and all traffic on the street to clear up, he made his move. Like a streak of lightning, he bolted from cover and rushed towards the nearest shop.

Only vaguely did he register the fact that said shop appeared to be a flower shop of sorts, not that it mattered much to him. What did matter is that no one was around to stop him.

Up until now, he'd been quite the sneaky one, having settled for silently breaking into places and killing his targets in relative silence so that whenever someone came by, they would notice his handiwork and be truly shocked and horrified by it.

But now? Now, it was time to start ramping things up. Watts would soon be joining in on the fun, likely within the day or so, thus now was the time to start really making a statement.

Thus, rather than settle for just quietly opening the door and silently taking out everyone within the shop, this time he just straight up slammed against the entrance, his lanky frame belying the surprising strength he possessed.

The door to the shop was instantly shattered into pieces and of course, this was by no means a quiet sound. The several or so people within the shop naturally took note of this and all of them cried out in startlement as they wildly turned towards the source of the sound.

But Tyrian moved faster than what the eyes of any civilian could ever keep up with and he took stock of his newest batch of victims:

A cashier, around college age.

Someone in the barely visible pathway to the backroom, an older man.

A middle-aged man and his two kids… ah, been a while since he'd slain anyone _that_ young. It'll be nice to see how well their soft flesh holds up to his blades.

Lastly, there was a woman, no, a girl likely in her teens, all on her lonesome. She'd been looking at some plants closest to the door…

And so, it was this girl that ended up becoming his first victim.

Tyrian set upon her in just a millisecond, if that. With two swift motions, he cut her right across the eyes with his second strike opening her throat. He'd delayed the second strike just enough for the beginnings of a gurgle to fill his ears before he moved onto the next victims.

Immediately, he opened fire with his guns, unloading into the wide-eyed cashier, the blood splattering onto the counter and plants nearby. As he fired, Tyrian was already moving upon the man and his children.

With a dark cackle, he lashed out with his tail, using it to grab the man by his throat and hoisted him up to expose his torso. With masterful precision that would impress even a master artisan, Tyrian hacked away at the man's stomach, fully intent on disemboweling him. He then tossed the man onto his children, their little cries muffled as their now dying father collapsed onto them.

Glancing towards the backroom, Tyrian opted to just open fire again through the corner rather than head after the older man back there. Empowered by some aura, his bullets pierced through the wall like nothing and his finely tuned ears made out the familiar sounds of bullets rending through flesh very well, sounds followed quickly by a loud thump as the now dead man fell to the floor.

Tyrian knew he had to go now – plenty more people to kill before it was time to really be out in the open – but as he immediately pivoted so that he could take his leave, he paused for just a split second.

After all, just how could he leave without forgetting the kids?

Tyrian looked down upon the trapped and wailing children with a malicious grin before grabbing them by the heads and tugged them free from under their father. The man in question was amazingly still alive, trying to utter something and even tried to reach out for Tyrian's leg. No doubt, the man was pleading for him to let his kids go.

It would almost be touching if they all weren't such filth standing in his goddess' path. Oh well.

A swift flick of his tail was enough to ensure his stinger cut open the dying man's check, injecting just a little bit of his venom into the man.

With that distraction now out of the way…

Tyrian looked at the kids struggling futilely against his grip and grinned, an idea coming to mind…

And so, just half a minute later, Tyrian took his leave, exiting through the same manhole he'd come out from. His gunshots and actions have sent any and all people nearby long since scrambling away in terror and so he went unseen…

…However, moments later, when the police swiftly arrived on the scene, the responding officers got to see his handiwork.

As he traveled through the sewers once more, Tyrian chuckled yet again in satisfaction, wondering if the police will appreciate the 'welcome' sign he'd made thanks to those kids.

He now traveled northwest, heading ever deeper into Vale. It wouldn't be long until his spree, now escalating in scale, reaches Vale's downtown area.

And when it does… oh, how he so looked forward to seeing how much trouble he could stir up there.

* * *

Watts sat all on his lonesome at an outside café, the former Atlas scientist enjoying his own company very much in addition to a well-made cappuccino. Even one such as he couldn't help but enjoy such things, more so when there was work coming up that was of great importance.

As planned, he'd made his way into Vale not long after Tyrian had done so, though the man was absolutely certain that Tyrian didn't know he was even here yet. In all fairness, the main idea had been for Watts to head into Vale a few days or so after Tyrian did, yet he here now was, a day or so ahead of schedule.

Not that this made a difference, really, though since either way he would've had to wait for Tyrian to make some kind of ruckus.

And thanks to his technopathy, Watts was most pleased to see that Tyrian's escapades have finally picked up some genuine steam.

Ever since entering Vale, he'd made it a point to dig up everything about Tyrian's killings so far. Though said killings have occurred in areas where people were fully capable of keeping things under wraps, the fact of the matter is that police had still been called in all those cases and thus there existed reports of those incidents as well some occasional footage. Nothing that showed the killings in and of themselves, but what had mattered to Watts were the location details and timestamps.

The idea here was to make it known to Vale at large just how recent these killings were as well as how close these killings were to the other residents here. It's always been one thing to hear about a murder spree going on in the other kingdoms or in some work of fiction, but it was another thing entirely to learn of such a thing happening here and now in their own kingdom. And with just how horribly tense everyone was right now, well…

Watts then let out a chuckle. To some of the people around him, such an action must look rather sudden and absurd, but obviously not to him.

Even now, he was using his technopathy to compile his findings… and just now, he'd managed to hack from a safe distance the live recordings that every police officer had. Through this, he got to see up close and personal the mess Tyrian had made of that little flower shop. The way those cameras even managed to pick up the horrified gasps and retching sounds the responding officers made too as they witnessed Tyrian's handiwork – Watts almost pitied those children, truly, he did – just made things all the sweeter.

A bit of a shame that the flower shop didn't seem to have any security cameras inside that he could hack, at least as far as his newfound senses could tell, but the footage he was getting from the unknowing officers still sufficed.

In an instant, he took that footage and opted to stream it directly to some reporters at the Vale News Network, particularly Lisa Lavender's computer at her desk, followed by an email containing the files hastily written up about Tyrian's recent murders too. He also made it a point to send the footage from the policemen's cameras to as many emails he could dig up in the following minute, selecting from a long list of people that consisted primarily of civilians though he was also able to get the email address to a council member or two in the process too.

There, he thought in satisfaction as he took a sip from his drink, that should get the ball really rolling. The murders in and of themselves would be attention grabbing during these trying times, but a little note at the end of the email that made it clear the police department and some of the residents in those areas had tried to keep things hush-hush would really set the populace off.

Watts could practically feel the explosion of negativity already and it would be just a bit before it even happens, heh. He could only imagine what it would feel like for Hazel once the media reports on it.

This would no doubt lead to a large influx of Grimm, which definitely wouldn't go unnoticed by the public. More huntsmen would be then be sent out to deal with the undoubtedly forming Grimm horde and the Atlas fleet would very likely be mobilized in its entirety too in support. Of course, Hazel had been more than capable of dealing with the pesky ones already sent to check out the location of the forming horde, so it wouldn't matter at all however many more huntsmen are sent his way…

…But as for the Atlas fleet, when the fleet here in Vale finally did make its move, that would be up to Watts to personally deal with… and he very much looked forward to crushing Ironwood's forces beneath his heel.

Ah… he could already imagine the look on the feeble general's face. The mental image was more than enough to make the man that much more eager for things to get to that point, so eager that it bordered on being physically painful just to hold himself back.

But hold back, he did. He's patiently waited years to get revenge on Ironwood. Another day or so at most was nothing.

Until then, he would amuse himself with following Tyrian's actions. If nothing else, his crazed accomplice served as excellent entertainment, more so when it came at Vale's expense.

* * *

 **Yeah, so as you can all see, shit is beginning to hit the fan pretty quickly now. Up until now, Jaune and the 'good' side (for lack of a better way to put it) may have been able to gain small/personal victories, but ultimately it's Salem's side that has the advantage in the overall situation.**

 **In other words, they may be winning most battles, but Salem and her forces are still the ones winning the war.**

 **Anyways, if it seems like things are suddenly moving very fast, just let me say that this is quite intentional. By this point in the fic, Salem has pretty much amassed her remaining forces right outside Vale and with everyone now in place, there's very little to no reason for her agents to wait around. Watts' new abilities have especially helped in facilitating this sudden turn in the situation, abilities that will be put on better display very soon.**

 **On that note, as Hazel had stated in his narration, Watts' abilities do possess some weaknesses/shortcomings. The technopathy may be a hell of game changer but not one that he can abuse for very long periods of time. Same thing goes for his virtual space thing, which will be shown in action and elaborated upon in the near future.**

 **One weakness that I can freely mention here and now though is that both abilities are concentration based, which is to say that Watts needs to concentrate significantly in order to use them. If his concentration is interrupted for even the slightest of instances, that'll be enough to stop or at least slow down whatever it is that he was doing. Of course, this really goes for just about anything/everything in fiction and real life, but it's especially important for Watts. Again, this will be explained in further detail once he really starts showing off what he can do.**

 **Now, on a different note, I do hope that how the situation ultimately turned out makes sense – that is, with JNPR and RWBY being the ones to go and stop the murder spree and all that, and not, you know, the police or Atlas soldiers. I tried to make the reasoning behind it all at least plausible so do bear with me if it feels weird for whatever reason.**

 **So… yeah. Shit is really going to be hitting the fan soon and expect things to really begin escalating, especially once Hazel joins the fray because I really have some plans for him.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe.**


	46. Chapter 46

Hey there, everyone. Hope all of you are continuing to hold up okay. As for me, doing the same as always. My workplace has been re-opening some locations over the past few weeks or so, meaning I will very likely be recalled, though when that day will come is still up in the air. Though I've probably mentioned it before, I'm looking forward to it, if only to see in person how my coworkers have been holding up all this time. Now I just wonder if the same will be done about my volunteer duty soon… doubt it though, probably won't be back up and running for another month or so depending on how the COVID cases fluctuate.

Now, onto more cheery things, almost done with my novel! Just needs another chapter to bring things to a close and then I need to find a public domain image to use to make a cover and it'll be ready to be uploaded and made available for purchase. Should hopefully have all this done by the end of this month and I have to say, a part of me is very giddy while another part of me is quite worried since I've only had about maybe 10 total sales. Alas, such is the nature of the business market, plus I am still very much an amateur writer – still have a long way to go in improving. In any case, I always welcome the challenge and it's my hope that once I get around to writing the third/final book of the series that it'll catch just a bit more attention.

Other than that, I've also been quite eager to work on this fic too now that we're steadily getting closer to the climax of it all, though it's not quite that close just yet. Still have a bit more groundwork to lay out before things really come to a close there and this entire 'arc,' if it could be called that is part of said groundwork. So, with that said, hope you all look forward to how things will turn out.

Now then, onto the chapter.

P.S. To any of you who stay up to date with Masada Takashi's Avesta web novel, how eager are you guys to see him finally release official profiles for the rest of the Demon Kings/Archdemons? I know I am, so much so that it hurts.

P.P.S. For some additional fic info, see ending AN.

Chapter 46

The footage and reports about the recent string of wanton murders spread like a wildfire throughout the entirety of Vale. There was soon not a single person who used media that didn't know of what was happening within the kingdom.

Shock gave way to horror and from horror came anger. Negativity swiftly began to increase to all new heights.

This was it, many people felt, this was the last straw. Too much has happened recently for them to bear it any longer.

The council was swiftly contacted and numerous people irately demanded from them to get to the bottom of this. Many more took to the internet and began voicing their fury online, turning to not just the council but also the police and Beacon academy and the Atlas fleet to use as outlets for their negativity.

Only a matter of several or so minutes must have passed since the news reported on this hidden string of murders and chaos, but to everyone involved, it felt so much longer.

And as Watts simply finished his drink and took to a little merry stroll through Vale, he had himself a nice little laugh.

The time for Salem's approach was drawing nearer more quickly than ever before.

* * *

Within the sewers, Jaune traveled at a brisk pace. He used no source of light to guide his way, instead relying solely on what knowledge he had on how sewer systems tended to be constructed and his own night vision. He hadn't been lying earlier when he'd told the others of his night vision – all that time spent traveling from one village or town to another on the frontier really helped to refine said vision since the nights were always so very dark even with moon light.

His eyes only marginally straining, he looked around as he reached a section of the sewer where it diverged into multiple paths. He debated internally whether or not he should travel down any of them or simply turn back. On the one hand, he'd been requested to try staying close to sewer entrances so if anything happened, he can quickly make his way back to topside. On the other hand, abiding by that request could possibly result in him not being able to catch their unknown killer if said person really was traveling down here right now.

"…" Making a little sound, Jaune made up his mind.

He chose the leftmost path to go down, a path that would take him to another sewer entrance/exit in another ten or so minutes of travel, assuming nothing happened to make him rush for said exit.

His scroll suddenly beeped, getting him to blink out of mild surprise, only for him to then grumble to himself in slight embarrassment. He'd forgotten to turn off the notifications for the news.

Pulling out his scroll, Jaune readied himself to disable notifications, only to immediately pause as he saw what the newest bit of media was focusing on.

He winced. Looks like word about their target had gotten out. How that could've happened, he didn't know exactly since everyone in the know had been all too eager to keep things under wraps. Of course, that only means someone under Salem's thumb must be responsible for this leak to the media, no doubt to stir up negativity. It was likely the same person who'd caused the most recent fiasco, where all the cars and drones had gone nuts.

"But maybe this was inevitable," he murmured as he disabled his notifications and put his scroll away. Sooner or later, word would've gotten out if this killer managed to claim even a few more victims further into Vale.

In any case, this just meant there was that much more incentive to catching and stopping this enigma very damn soon – the public would no doubt be calling for the person to be brought to justice and it was up to him and his friends to deliver.

With this in mind, he decided to forgo simply walking no matter how brisk his pace had been. Instead, he broke out into a genuine sprint. There may be a chance he could end up passing a clue as to which direction the killer had gone in, but if he didn't hurry then who knows what would happen. For all he knew though, the killer could somehow be travelling topside, in which case he could only pray his friends and Winter Schnee would find the target swiftly.

And so, off into the sewers Jaune ran, travelling deeper and deeper inwards – only for him to suddenly slow his pace just as quickly as he'd begun it.

Just now, it'd been slight… but he could've sworn he heard footsteps, very light ones.

"…" He had to come to a genuine stop now and focused his hearing as best he could. In the sewers, sight would only get him so far no matter how good his night vision is and trying to smell the killer out would be impossible due to the overwhelming stench that naturally comes with being in the sewers of a kingdom. Thus, hearing was the way to go.

And… there! There were some footsteps again, no, more like something skittering along the walls. It seemed to be coming from somewhere up ahead, another junction where the sewers split off into multiple paths again.

Jaune rushed after the sound of the now fading steps as quickly as he could, though his speed was contrasted by the sheer lightness of his own steps. If not for the light splattering of sewage water with every step he made, he'd be as close to soundless as could be right now.

He reached the junction in no time flat and immediately looked down the path where he'd heard the source of the steps come from. There no longer seemed to be any sound coming from there beyond the regular dripping of water drops from up top and the occasional torrent of water from nearby pipes. Other than that, there was nothing more to be heard.

And that only set Jaune more on edge than anything.

Those steps hadn't been particularly quick so unless the one making those sounds had exceptionally long and swift strides, there was no way they could cover enough ground to be out of sight…

…Which meant his target must be close.

Slowly, Jaune drew one of his blades, one equipped with gravity Dust. The sewers here were just wide enough for him to maneuver with his swords somewhat, but he'd still have to be careful lest he get his blade caught on something. Which is why he choose the one with gravity Dust – if he could just get one good slash on his target, that'll be enough to hopefully slow them down, which would count for a lot down here.

Weapon drawn, Jaune quickly made his way down the path that his target likely went in…

…Unaware that just as he was hunting the killer, the killer was hunting him too now.

* * *

It took considerable effort on Tyrian's part to repress his signature mad cackling. After having slipped into the sewers, he'd made natural use of his long strides and animalistic movements to cover great distances with far less movement than would be necessary for many others.

With mad glee in his eyes, he'd moved briskly north, intent on popping up deeper into Vale's commercial areas with the purpose of maybe killing a dozen or so people this time before pulling yet another vanishing act for the undoubtedly panicking authorities of this pathetic kingdom.

However, at some point during his traversal, he became acutely aware that he wasn't alone in this particular section of the sewers.

As a Faunus, he naturally possessed night vision that was as close to perfect as could be… but as a natural born killer and true hunter who has refined his talents over his lifetime, his other senses were just as exceptional.

Including his hearing, of course. And he'd certainly not let that other set of footsteps go unnoticed.

Many people would believe the sewers to be home to numerous homeless dregs and to some extent they would be right, but nowhere near to the same extent as they would be foolish enough to believe. And no homeless fool would have footsteps this light and purposeful. That meant he had someone well trained on his tail.

And after finding a tight corner of the junction to curl up in, he'd waited just out of sight as his stalker came into sight.

It took him by surprise, to be honest, to see that said stalker was none other than the one Hazel and Watts – primarily the former, however – had spoken of:

Jaune Arc, whose picture had been provided to him by Watts not long before they'd headed out.

To say he was surprised by the boy's appearance would be just a bit of an understatement, but not an unpleasant surprise. After all, after being quickly briefed by both of his allies prior to heading out on all that's happened on their end, he knew well now what the blond was capable of.

That this blond teen was capable of battling it out against Hazel of all people… Tyrian couldn't help but be genuinely impressed. But of course, compared to his goddess, what difference did this boy really make in the long run?

Now, despite said dismissal of the boy – rather hard not to dismiss anyone when comparing them to her grace – Tyrian knew better than to let himself be too confident here. Anyone who can fight Hazel to a stalemate, especially after the man had clearly gotten so much stronger than he already was, was not someone he had a particularly high chance of beating. Tyrian estimated himself to have perhaps a thirty percent chance at most at beating this Jaune child in a direct confrontation.

However… a direct confrontation is only a fool's errand.

And though Hazel had also made it clear to him that he'd be the one to kill this insipid teen, well… the man hadn't said he couldn't soften him up a little.

Besides, it was clear this teen was looking for him – why else would he be down here of all places? Very likely on that foolish Ozpin's orders too.

Sneering darkly, Tyrian stepped out of hiding and slowly stalked after Jaune Arc, switching his blades from their resting state to their unsheathed state. His tail slowly uncoiled as well, ready to stab the teen should it come to it.

His would-be follower was no more than fifteen or so meters ahead of him now, deep within that sewer path. Good, Tyrian thought, march ever closer to your death. The boy, for all his strength and skill, had foolishly come down here without any source of light… and now he was about to reach the darkest part of the path, where absolute darkness reigned and where Tyrian would be striking at.

It took only a few seconds longer before Jaune reached that particular part of the path-.

-And that was when Tyrian finally pounced.

In an instant, he launched himself in almost a perfectly straight line towards his young target, intent on cutting deeply into his unguarded back.

Which should've happened… only that it didn't.

When he'd leapt, he'd made just a bit of noise – an audible swishing sound due to his blades literally cutting through the air at high speeds. That had been all that was needed to alert his young foe of his presence and in a speed that almost took him by surprise, the teen _moved_ , twisting at the speed of lightning and swiping his drawn sword at him.

Tyrian curled into a ball in midair and then lashed out with both legs, which slammed against the teen's shoulder. The scorpion Faunus lurched somewhat, feeling as if he were a child trying to budge a boulder twenty times his size, a comparison that only highlighted just how strong the teen was. Made sense given again that he could fight Hazel to a stalemate.

Nonetheless, he'd sort of expected this and ended up kicking off the teen, sending himself flying back several yards and just narrowly avoiding the boy's sword swing. Upon landing in a crouch, Tyrian narrowed his eyes , his night vision allowing him to see that the blade swung had gravity Dust filled in it. Truly, a good thing he'd been able to dodge it.

Alas, as immensely powerful as the teen clearly was, he appeared to rely solely on his blades and natural physical prowess, meaning he didn't have to fear any long-range attacks. Well, technically, he did need to be wary considering Hazel had also told him of the teen being able to channel his aura and fire off energy slashes, but here in the not so spacious sewers, Tyrian doubted the boy would resort to that sort of thing.

And sure enough, the boy seemed to realize that for he instead charged right at him, putting on a burst of speed so great that it was audible, a sound that was only further amplified due to the tightness of this sewer path.

Nonetheless, Tyrian proved to be just a bit faster and was more than ready for this, leaping back towards the junction.

Or so he would have the boy believe.

Just as it looked like he was about head out into the open, Tyrian opened fire with his weapons' gun functions, engulfing the teen in a hail of bullets that was impossible to dodge due to the narrowness of the path still. The teen had to resort to using his blade to cut down the bullets instead. This gave Tyrian enough of an opening to jump up and twist about so that he now hung onto the ceiling, his fingers and the tips of his boots just barely able to dig into the metal.

He proceeded to immediately skitter almost like a bug across the ceiling of the path, overtaking Jaune who'd just cut down the last bullet and tried to reach up for him – only to be made to back off when Tyrian lashed out suddenly with his tail, his stinger just barely missing the left side of his target's face.

Of course, Tyrian had to retract his tail posthaste when Jaune made to cut it off and only avoided that terrible fate by centimeters at best, but he succeeded and leapt down and then threw himself at Jaune who was still in mid-attack, Tyrian's sudden shoulder tackle proving just enough to knock him off balance.

Tyrian capitalized on this by swinging his blades at Jaune's torso, only for the killer to be genuinely surprised and impressed when Jaune batted his short attacks aside with an open palm. It wasn't that he was that damn tough – though that was part of it – but rather, Tyrian could just barely make out Jaune using his open palm to slam against the flat sides of his blades each time, demonstrating remarkable speed, precision and timing.

That said, Jaune was just as quick to retaliate, thrusting his blade forward with enough strength and speed that would've skewered him if he didn't pivot as much as he could to the side. Even then, the teen's blade stabbed through a part of his coat, much to Tyrian's silent consternation. He liked this brown coat of his.

Jaune immediately regained his balance completely and then just turned the blade so that its sharp side faced Tyrian's torso and he swung in that direction. How he could go from just barely completing a thrust to a sudden swing without even fully performing the swinging motion was something beyond Tyrian and spoke that much more of Jaune's strength and skill, but nonetheless it still proved to not be enough as Tyrian literally leapt out his coat and over the blade before striking out with his tail.

He threw a feint, making it seem like he was aiming for Jaune's torso only to then switch to his true target – Jaune's right ankle. And though the blond didn't fall for his feint, the sheer speed of Tyrian's tail proved to be just great enough to wrap itself around said ankle before his young foe could fully back away.

He'd ended up grabbing the teen just as he'd been about to leap and so Tyrian quite literally made Jaune tumble backwards, which he promptly took advantage of by demonstrating his tail's strength now, tossing the boy out into the open junction.

Alas, like a cat, the blond landed gracefully on his feet – and as the teen quickly stood, his very eyes seemed to glow a magnificent gold.

Tyrian shuddered, sensing danger. On pure instinct, he jumped from out of the sewer path and towards the ceiling, just in time to see Jaune suddenly draw another one of his swords, also filled with Dust along its edge, and perform an slash that resulted in a wave of pure frost to appear and travel down the path they'd just been in at immense speeds.

Tyrian felt a bead of sweat form. If this teen managed to land a Dust attack with either that sword or the gravity Dust one, he'd definitely be slowed down for a while, more than long enough for the teen to take advantage of.

Right, best to keep his distance then. To this end, Tyrian latched onto the nearest wall, unmindful of the water that seemed to constantly run down it and the rest of the junction.

He opened fire upon Jaune just as the teen seemed to start approaching, the bullets forcing the teen to dodge to his left. Said teen then sheathed the ice Dust blade and pulled out a different one this time.

The next thing Tyrian knew, Jaune clearly channeled some aura into the blade itself and it pushed the Dust along its edge out, activating it – and as it activated, the teen stabbed the _lightning Dust coated blade_ into the _wet wall._

In an instant, Tyrian let out a strangled cry and practically convulsed as the entirety of the junction barring its relatively dry center ended up electrified.

Though this lasted but a second or two at most, it felt so much longer to Tyrian, who only barely saw him swing the gravity Dust blade in his general direction.

And as the teen swung that particular blade, a veritable vortex was unleashed, said vortex a pitch black in color, emulating the color of gravity Dust itself. Said vortex was effectively a damn tear in space itself it seemed like, a miniature black hole with an incredible gravitational pull that sucked in most of the electrified water off the wall in addition to a lot of the sewer along the bottom-.

-This included Tyrian himself, who was unceremoniously dragged off the wall with ridiculous ease and towards the vortex. It was only due to adrenaline at this point that he was able to shake off the effects of the lightning Dust and wrap his tail around a nearby pipe that was about twice as thick as one of his arms.

Through great effort, he managed to outlast the vortex, after which he promptly threw himself back at the wall just as the teen withdrew his lightning Dust empowered blade from it.

Jaune looked ready to jump right at him, intending to go in close and overwhelm him, but Tyrian was able to make the first move, kicking off the wall and landing just a few feet in front of the teen.

Upon landing, Tyrian instantly tried to stab Jaune in the foot with his stinger, only for Jaune to simply raise his foot to avoid it and stomp down. Tyrian barely managed to retract his blade in time to avoid having it crushed, but the stomp ended up rattling the entire junction, throwing him off balance somewhat.

That was all it took for Jaune to yet again act upon, covering what little distance there was between them to deliver a downwards strike.

Grunting in equal parts exertion and worry now, Tyrian managed to catch the blade with both of his own – only to end up forced to knee instantly anyways, hissing in pain.

It wasn't simply the sheer power behind the swing that forced him down either; the blade he just blocked was the one with gravity Dust in it. Jaune had just activated it upon impact and thus increased the personal gravity of his blades by at least tens of times. His hands and forearms visible buckled under the strain of this greater weight. In and of itself though, such a weight was nothing to huntsmen level combatants, but with Jaune also trying to pin him down with his own strength, well, that certainly made things much more strenuous.

Truly, he was in a bad position now. One could say that perhaps he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Alas, even if he hadn't attacked Jaune first, it would've only been a matter of time until Jaune had found him anyways, it felt like.

That all said…

"…Hah!" Tyrian couldn't help but let out a sudden bark before devolving into a quick fit of laughter.

Truly, what an absurd situation this was. Existences such as his goddess and Hazel… before having ever met them, he'd thought of such power as being something that could never be achieved in any way, shape or form. But ever since the privilege of meeting her grace and seeing for himself the abnormal power Hazel possessed, Tyrian's views on things had changed just a bit. Perhaps such an absurd level of power could be reached after all, though only by an absolute select few.

And never in his life would he have imagined a mere teen to not only have that kind of potential but to already reach such a level too.

Really now, how absurd. It was why he couldn't help but laugh right now.

And it would seem his sudden shift in mood was throwing the silent teen off a bit, though not enough to make the blond stay his hand. With another blade drawn, the teen swung it towards his side, clearly intent on incapacitating him here and now…

…But like hell Tyrian would allow himself to fall so easily.

With a great deal of effort, he managed to maneuver the blade he was holding back to the side and quickly placed his hands above Jaune's hand before just letting the drastically enhanced gravity of his weapons to do the work for him. The teen lurched forth a little, having not quite seen such a maneuver coming and it thus prevented his attack. Tyrian was all too quick to use this opportunity to practically jump back up and deliver the strongest kick he could muster to Jaune's briefly exposed side. And thanks to how unstable the teen's balance now was, Tyrian's kick proved to be just enough to launch the teen off the ground and into the wall.

Tyrian didn't bother waiting to see this happen, however. The very instant he'd successfully landed the kick, he immediately turned around and bolted for the nearest path. Running at his top speed proved to be just a tad bit more straining than usual due to the enhanced gravity placed upon his weapons, but the effect would fade soon enough. For now, he just needed to focus on getting away.

Continuing to fight it out against a Hazel-level foe like that down here would've just been needlessly risky even for a self-admitted lunatic such as himself. Though his skills were certainly suitable to confined spaces like that, against someone whose speed and skill were that great, it became far too much for him to deal with. No, if he were to engage again in battle against Jaune Arc, it would need to be somewhere more open. Of course, the same applied to the teen as well, but Tyrian was confident he could still manage if it ever came to that again.

Not that he intended to battle the teen again, though. As much fun as that'd be, he did have a job to do after all. And besides, he was Hazel's prey in the end. A pity he couldn't really do anything to soften the teen up, but that's just how things go sometimes, he had to admit.

As the enhanced gravity wore off, Tyrian bolted ever deeper into the sewers, readying himself to head topside soon.

As brief of a beating he'd just taken, he was still more than energized to carry out the will of his goddess. May she see him to victory and may he pave the path forward to her.

Allowing himself just another brief but loud cackle, Tyrian continued ever onwards.

* * *

"Damn…!" Jaune muttered to himself as he got up. He wasted no time getting up after that surprise kick, but by the time he did so, his foe had already taken off to who knows where.

Though he would nonetheless continue to search down here in the sewers, he knew it wouldn't be long at all for that man to head up, meaning it'd be up to his friends to continue the search.

As he sheathed his blades and gave chase, no matter how futile said chase may be, he tapped on the earpiece which had thankfully remained in place throughout the entire scuffle.

"This is Jaune, reporting in. Anyone hear me?" he said upon activating the earpiece. Unfortunately, all he got was nothing but static as a response. He grimaced. Honestly, he'd expected as much given how deep underground he was, which is why he hadn't bothered trying to call them for backup, plus that man had certainly not been a foe he could take so lightly, hence why things had ended up the way they have.

Undeterred, however, he charged in the direction the killer had gone in, knowing that an exit to the sewers would be coming up soon. His faith was rewarded not even a minute later as he spotted a ladder that goes straight up and as he tapped his earpiece, he could literally feel the thick static go away.

"This is Jaune, anyone hear me?" he tested out.

"Specialist Schnee here, Arc. What is it?" Weiss' sister immediately replied, her voice sounding tired but alert.

Must be due to the recent news, Jaune immediately realized. Alas, while it certainly meant they had to get this done ASAP, there wasn't really much more they could do at this point other than what they're already doing.

"Just encountered our target," he spoke as he stayed by the ladder to keep the reception strong. "Fought him briefly and may have worn him down a bit but can't be sure. Target managed to escape and was last spotted headed north. May be heading topside any second now so be on the lookout. Target is a scorpion Faunus, fights with blades mounted on his wrists. Guns are equipped to wrists as well."

A sound he couldn't quite identify was made by Winter Schnee, who then actually responded to him a second later. "Copy that. Sounds like Tyrian Callows, a rather infamous serial killer. We'll begin a sweep right now. Team RWBY, if you can hear us, link up with the rest of us three blocks up north. We'll be doing a sweep and won't be stopping for anything. Respond."

"T-This is Ruby Rose! I copy! I mean, we all copy!" Ruby's voice could be heard swiftly responding with just a bit of a stutter.

The girl sounded distracted by something, likely the same news he'd gotten on his scroll just some odd moments ago, which he couldn't blame her for.

"Copy. Start moving out," Winter replied before then speaking to him again. "Arc, on the off chance the target stays within the sewers, just continue your sweep down there. I know your comms will go in and out of range often down there but do your best to report back to us every five minutes or so. If you encounter the target again, call for backup as soon as you can."

"Copy that," Jaune replied. "That said, I do believe he will go topside – I feel that just as we're now on a much briefer deadline of sorts, so is he. This carnage of his… he wants to cause as much as he can as quickly as he can."

"Noted. Continue your sweep anyways, we can't afford to take any chances."

"Copy. Moving out now." Jaune ceased operating the earpiece and resumed his advance deeper into the sewers.

He was tempted to draw one or two of his blades but opted against it this time. If he gets ambushed again within one of these passages, he'd be much better off fighting barehanded rather than relying on his blades. If he can track this Tyrian down and at least fight him in another junction though, using his swords will be a definite possibility, though he'd still need to be mindful of his surroundings.

As he continued his swift trek, he silently went over his options.

Each of his blades contained a different type of Dust – fire, water, ice, wind, lightning, gravity and hard-light. Due to how limited his usage of Dust is thanks to the issue of how his aura directly interacts with Dust, using them in the same ways and to the same degrees as his friends was pretty much impossible. At best, he could simply use the Dust to enhance his offensive capabilities, albeit to a significant degree. Of course, his control is good enough to be able to fine tune just ow much Dust gets used and how, but down here in the sewers, he'd have to be very careful; depending on which blade he had to use and how much aura he expended with each usage, he could very well risk collapsing the streets above.

This placed quite a handicap on him for the time being, but that was nothing new. He'd merely have to get creative, which wasn't a problem. Still, this was all something to be especially aware of since, after that brief scuffle, he had quite a feel for that man's prowess.

Though nowhere near the level of sheer of power and skill that Hazel possesses, this Tyrian was easily more than strong and skilled enough to combat the greatest huntsmen to walk Remnant today and have good odds at coming out on top, especially since a brief look into that man's eyes had been all it took to tell that he was severely lacking in conventional morals, morals that may otherwise make others hesitate depending on circumstances. Not only that, but Tyrian's weapons and apparent skills were clearly better suited to this cramped environment than his own. If it wasn't for his strength being so much greater, than Jaune knew for an absolute fact that Tyrian would've utterly dominated most others down here.

That wasn't even getting into what else the man could do too, like what his semblance might be. And given he was a scorpion Faunus, his stinger was very likely venomous.

All in all, this was not someone that would go down easily.

"And more than that…" Jaune murmured to himself. "He doesn't seem like someone who'd stick down here after a fight like that…"

Tyrian was clearly crazed, those eyes of his containing a bloodlust that Jaune has seldom seen in his short life so far. But as great as that man's bloodlust is, there'd also been no mistaking the inherent cunning the killer possessed, which bordered on bestial.

He may not perhaps be the greatest warrior to ever walk the land, but there was not a doubt that Tyrian was a true hunter, a predator that has long since refined his talents and knows how to truly stalk and wear down his prey in order to deliver a single fatal strike.

And there was not a single predator that Jaune could recall encountering that'd hang around in the same area as another predator, not when there were clearly other and better options on how to do things.

"…" Thinking for a second longer, Jaune made a sudden turn, traveling down a path that he was just about to pass up on his left.

In no time flat, he reached a ladder that would take him topside, whereupon he quickly began to climb and contacted the others as he did so. "This is Jaune again. Heading back up. Nothing suggests our target is staying in the sewers anymore."

"What? Arc, no, stay down there just in case!" Winter replied.

"Sorry, specialist, but that is one order I can't follow," he replied as he reached street level, swiftly putting the manhole cover back into place. "I have to strongly reiterate how our killer is thinking right this moment – he's not going to be staying down there now of all times. Even if he is, it won't be long anyways until he comes back up to continue his spree. Better for all of us to focus up here and converge on him as soon as any one of us spots him. It's just a matter of time."

"…Fine. Your team and RWBY have already just linked up and we're already spreading out. Regroup with your team and cover the northwest side. If he shows, you stop him with everything you have or at the very least hold him at bay until we can come to provide backup."

"Copy."

With nothing else needing to be said, Jaune immediately burst into a serious sprint, shooting out of the alley he was in and heading onto the open sidewalks. People shrieked in surprise at his sudden appearance and he bellowed out a quick but no less sheepish apology. Nonetheless, he kept on moving without slowing down.

If anything, he just sped up.

With tensions already so high, more and more Grimm must surely be gathering into a horde right now… and if nothing was done about this today, then later tonight or tomorrow, well…

He tried not to dwell on that possibility.

But even so, it started to haunt him.

His pace picked up even more and soon enough, he was reaching his destination in the veritable blink of an eye.

* * *

Watts hummed, this time in slight discontentment.

Thanks again to his technopathy, taking hold of virtually whatever he wanted without anything to impede him allowed him a very personal insight into the current situation.

Currently, he was just walking down the street, pretending to be window shopping. All the while, he casually made all the cameras that would've otherwise spotted him turn away at the last possible moment or loop their current feed in order to ensure he remained hidden from Ozpin's and Ironwood's wandering eyes, which no doubt watched everything going on in Vale right this very instant.

As he continued on with his little charade, he'd been able to hack into Atlas' comms, which naturally includes those ridiculous little earpieces many Atlas specialists and Atlas associates used out in the field. Naturally, this meant he was able to listen in on the words spoken between Winter Schnee and those two first year teams, their voices practically rattling around inside his very mind due to how his technopathy works.

Thus, he got to hear loud and clear what their new little strategy was. Not for the first time, he actually found himself rather surprised by Jaune Arc's insight into this situation, or rather, the teen's insight into how Tyrian typically operates.

Indeed, it'd only be a matter of moments until his bloodthirsty ally makes a grand reappearance and continues his slaughter for as long as he can manage… and when that happens, he imagined it wouldn't be long at all until the teens and Atlas specialist hunting him will catch up, at which point a battle would definitely ensue.

Against that many opponents, even Tyrian would fall, especially with Jaune Arc there. But that said, Tyrian likely knew his chances of coming out on top in a fight like that and would likely use his venom on himself at that point to try going out in a blaze of bloody glory… and Watts imagined too that it would be _very_ bloody if it came to that.

By all rights, though, he should call Tyrian, let him know to perhaps change directions. Alas, he wouldn't. In the end, it wouldn't change the fact that Tyrian has already killed more than a few measly civilians so at this point it didn't matter if the scorpion Faunus' spree was halted. Tyrian knew this too, of course, not that the man would let himself be stopped from having his fun so easily.

But even if he wanted to, contacting Tyrian simply wasn't possible right now. With his new abilities, Watts no longer had a need for a scroll and his rings served more of an ornamental purpose now, so contacting Tyrian the old fashioned way wasn't an option and his technopathy sadly had a range limit and Tyrian was currently out of that range. Though he supposed he could perhaps form a cellular chain, linking himself from one nearby phone to another further away and so on until his range was theoretically great enough to reach Tyrian, that level of concentration and time required to do so would render it moot since by then Tyrian would be topside and engaged in either slaughter or battle.

Oh well, it is what it is. Though it would be quite nice if Tyrian could manage to kill another two dozen civilians or so before potentially being stopped, to say nothing of the possibility of Tyrian slaying some of Ozpin's and James' new pawns, it wasn't as if that would be necessary. The negativity being generated by Tyrian's actions so far and him spilling the beans about it to the news had been more than enough to suit their purposes.

Ah, and there they begin to go – the Atlas fleet.

Overhead, Watts spotted some of the ships under James' command begin to head out. With all that was now going on, looks like the brash general was once again resorting to his usual over the top displays of force. He was likely sending those ships out to see if a Grimm horde could be located.

Of course, Hazel had already gone and taken down all the huntsmen and ships sent out his way so far, something James and Ozpin must surely be aware of, but now they truly had no choice but to just send more people to their deaths in the hopes of stopping Salem's growing forces.

In other words, what James was now doing was simply engaging once again in borderline suicidal behavior. It was enough to make Watts chuckle as he finally moved away from the shops in favor of observing how many ships were leaving Vale's airspace.

"All you're doing is just crippling yourself more and more, James…" Watts muttered, taking care to speak as quietly as possible lest some nearby idiot overhear him. The more ships James unwittingly sent to their destruction, the fewer would remain to help stave off Vale's inevitable demise.

Which was just fine by him, obviously.

But with that all being said… it was time for him to truly begin his own part.

Tyrian had already done well to signal Vale's impending doom. Now it was time for him to make his grand reappearance among the living in his former homeland's eyes.

With a bold stride, Watts made his way further into Vale, to where the nearest bullheads dock was at.

As he prepared what he was about to do next, he idly wondered just how nice the view will be from aboard James' flagship.

He'll be finding out for himself in just a half hour or so.

* * *

What was now happening out in Vale was as close to the worst possible scenario Ozpin could imagine. Somehow, word of the killer's spree had reached the media who then went on to shotgun the grisly details everywhere they could. Now people were up in arms over this and it was all that could be done to keep the peace.

That riots haven't broken out was something of a small mercy but it was far from enough, Ozpin realized. As things now stood, negativity was higher than ever before and a Grimm horde was definitely forming somewhere out there, assuming it hadn't been doing so before.

In just these past several minutes, he's already been in contact with the council and a few other contacts of his, trying to figure out a way to appease the public and put some kind of dent into the negativity… alas, there are times where hope simply can't be found and this may very well be one of those times. Just about the only good thing that can be accomplished would be the speedy capture of the perpetrator.

But even then, Ozpin knew such a thing wouldn't help all that much. What would matter to the public was the simple fact that this had even happened in the first place and that the authorities had tried to keep it covered up.

Though it was common knowledge that negativity drew the Grimm, humans weren't simple beings that could simply suppress or switch emotions so easily. They all loved and hated, embraced friendship and shunned others, displayed unmatched bravery and fell victim to unfathomable fear all too easily. Rational thought, for all its worth, couldn't simply suppress such intense emotions all the time. Indeed, it was precisely because they're human, because they're all living, thinking, _feeling_ individuals that the Grimm are such a constant threat.

But as bad as things have gotten before in the distant past, things had never been this bad. Perhaps that could be chalked up to people just being more on guard and accepting of life's harshness back then, whereas now the modern times have allowed people to grow too soft… no, Ozpin can't afford to think like that. Peace, no matter the era and no matter how tenuous said peace really was, had always had a price in the end. Complacency was one such price.

Not everyone was born a warrior. Not everyone had what it takes to become harsh enough to survive in this world or some may perhaps adapt too much to said harshness at the expense of kindness. Such was the very nature of individuality.

Thus, for all his current worries and frustrations, Ozpin couldn't fault the civilians one bit for how they were reacting. It is simply the way of things, just how life goes.

That said, this truly was a bad situation. Vale was now on the cusp of annihilation, he could feel it in the depths of his very soul. All of Salem's efforts in this era have been building up to this moment and it now felt to him more than ever that Salem may very well 'win' this time around.

And if Vale did indeed fall despite his own efforts…

Ozpin tried not to dwell on it much, the ramifications too much for even him to bear at this moment. If he had time to worry over things like this, then he had time to try and do something about it still. This is not the first time he and his forces have seemingly been courting defeat so intimately only to turn things around at the last possible instance.

Within the confines of his office, Ozpin paced for just a moment, his mind working a trillion miles a second as he thought up and discarded various things, strategies and tactics that have been tried in the past but that simply weren't applicable this time around.

Eventually, he closed his eyes and then sighed. Nothing of note simply refused to come to mind. There were some ideas, sure, but they would require more manpower than what he had available and it wasn't as if James could just dedicate the entirety of his forces to this either, not when the general would have his own plans and duties to carry out.

…But perhaps…

Ozpin pulled out his scroll and immediately called up Qrow.

If manpower was an issue, then perhaps firepower would suffice instead.

"Oz? What's going on?" Qrow asked as soon as he answered.

"A lot, I'm afraid," the ancient wizard replied. "I'll give you the details shortly… but first, a change of plans. I need you to contact Raven and head south of Vale – a Grimm horde is no doubt forming as we speak. Huntsmen and Atlas forces had already been sent out to check, but none have returned… we need others much more suited to the task."

"In this case," Qrow began, picking up on what he was getting at. "You want me and my sis to go find this horde and smoke them out of existence… or rather, you want Raven to strut out there and show us what she can really do as the Spring Maiden."

"And for you to defend her if need be. Horde or not, there's no way the Grimm would be able to take down that many huntsmen and Atlas ships on their own, not without direction being provided to them… or someone helping them out," Ozpin stated as he gripped his scroll tightly.

Hazel. Given what he now knows about that man, he was likely commanding the Grimm out there, to say nothing of the likelihood he was also doing his best to protect the growing horde.

Hazel's power, much like Mr. Arc's, was truly abnormal, even before more recent events… the 'average' huntsman simply wouldn't compare to him and Atlas ships would be shot down long before they could lock on and unleash all their firepower on him.

In which case, they'd just have to try and match Hazel's one man army status with a one woman army of their own – the Spring Maiden, Raven who was a formidable warrior even without factoring in said magical power. And who better to provide assistance than the one who can equal her prowess, in this case, Qrow?

Jaune Arc may be abnormally powerful and he may be a key player in this war against Salem, but that didn't mean he was the only one they could rely on.

"…Alright. I'll call her up and get her to pick me up right now," Qrow replied. "We'll let you know how things go if anything really crazy ends up happening."

"My thanks, Qrow… and be careful," Ozpin said before hanging up.

As he did so, he sighed a second time, this time feeling just a bit better than before but still uncertain about things. As much as he wished to send some additional help along with the Branwen siblings, such as Glynda or Peter or Bart, he simply couldn't afford to.

On the one hand, sending them would increase their chances at defeating Hazel and the horde, but not without risking their lives. And while that was just a natural part of being a huntsman, every loss of life out there deprived Vale that much more of precious manpower to mount a defense should another wave of Grimm come soon after.

It was a sad but delicate balance to maintain, knowing when to send out people to deal with a problem and when to keep them back in order to defend the kingdom. It was a balance that became ever harder to maintain throughout the centuries thanks to changes in technology and other circumstances.

Suddenly, his scroll beeped, drawing him out of his thoughts. Adrenaline levels spiked as he instantly noticed said beep was in response to an alert coming from Amber's chamber.

As he quickly silenced said alert and looked into the details of why it went off – it could literally be due to any changes in her condition, such was the level of precaution he'd taken – he read over the computer generated report that accompanied said alert.

He damn near dropped his scroll not even a full two seconds later, his shock just that much…

…Only for that shock to then give way to cautious hope.

Amber was beginning to wake up.

* * *

 **So, just to point something out, Tyrian, for all his battle prowess in this fic, is simply not on the same level as the likes of Hazel and Jaune. But that doesn't mean he'll be a cakewalk for either one to overcome, hypothetically speaking, of course. Though Hazel and Jaune are much more powerful physically than Tyrian and certainly faster than their builds and skillsets would normally suggest, Tyrian is still noticeably faster and certainly much more agile, plus he's not lacking in physical strength either.**

 **To further expand on that too, the environment they'd briefly fought in wasn't a good one for Jaune. Due to how small the sewers kind of are plus his own absurd level of power and how dangerous his Dust usage can be, he couldn't really afford to push his limits like he normally does whereas Tyrian had a bit more leeway due to his usual fighting style and the like. But don't worry, Jaune will be showing what he can now do with Dust soon enough.**

 **That said, let's just briefly talk about powerscaling, to those of you that may be concerned about it. Let me just say that powerscaling is just an inevitable thing to have in any story that involves combat of any kind. Doesn't matter if it's a live action film, a TV show, animated films, cartoons, anime, literature or whatever; it regularly features combat, powerscaling is going to be a thing.**

 **But keep in mind that powerscaling isn't something that's always easy to ascertain. In some cases like the Dragon Ball franchise and most shounen stuff in general, powerscaling tends to be very straightforward/linear, very clear cut in most cases.**

 **And RWBY, being very animesque and shounen – characters getting stronger via training or better gear or new abilities or whatever – naturally has its own powerscaling… but unlike the likes of typical shounen, it's not so linear. See, the thing about RWBY is that, for all its anime traits, it does have some sense of realism to it, however minor said realism may be. Certainly, some characters are significantly stronger than others, but not to the point where the weaker character has no chance whatsoever. Or maybe the weaker character possesses some skill or trait that is a good counter against the objectively stronger character or whatever. Maybe the weaker character is just faster than the stronger one or is much more skilled than the opponent or whatever.**

 **Kind of like real life, in a way – you can't expect a couch potato to suddenly trade blows evenly with a UFC fighter, but if the UFC fighter is already injured or tired or is maybe distracted by something and the couch potato has a gun or a knife or is just able to get a lucky shove on the UFC guy and pushes him into traffic, then things could obviously change. In that respect, RWBY is like that, with fight compatibility and circumstances being very real things to consider.**

 **TLDR: if it seemed to any of you guys that Jaune should've curbstomped Tyrian effortlessly, that just wasn't going to happen for precisely the reasons listed at the start of this ending AN. Hope it makes sense.**

 **And sorry if it seems like I just went on a rant or something – this is just stuff I've always wanted to make clear for a long time and some recent threads about screwy RWBY powerscaling that I've come across left me feeling a little irked.**

 **Anyways, up next, things really will begin to pick up so do look forward to that.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Stay safe.**


End file.
